Performing automatically authorized programmatic transactions

ABSTRACT

Techniques are described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by performing transactions between parties that are automatically authorized via a third-party transaction authorization system. In some situations, the transactions are programmatic transactions involving the use of fee-based Web services by executing application programs, with the transaction authorization system authorizing and/or providing payments in accordance with private authorization instructions previously specified by the parties. The authorization instructions may include predefined instruction rule sets that regulate conditions under which a potential transaction can be authorized, with the instruction rule sets each referenced by an associated reference token. After one or more of the parties to a potential transaction supply reference tokens for the parties, the transaction authorization system can determine whether to authorize the transaction based on whether the instruction rule sets associated with the reference tokens are compatible or otherwise satisfied.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application No. 12/058,638, filed Mar. 28, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/894,350, filed Jul. 19, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,383,231 issued Jun. 3, 2008, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following disclosure relates generally to facilitating interactions between computing systems, and more particularly to performing transactions between parties that are automatically authorized in accordance with predefined authorization instructions of the parties, such as to authorize fee-based Web service programmatic transactions between executing application programs of the parties.

BACKGROUND

Various mechanisms exist to allow computers and executing software applications to programmatically interact. For example, remote procedure call (“RPC”) protocols have long existed that allow a program on one computer to cause a program on another computer to be executed, and various object-oriented architectures such as CORBA (“Common Object Request Broker Architecture”) and DCOM (“Distributed Component Object Model”) provide similar capabilities. In addition, a variety of middleware programs have been implemented to connect separate applications (often of distinct types and from unrelated sources) to allow communication. For example, various EDI (“Electronic Data Interchange”) networks exist that provide standard mechanisms to allow a computer system of one user of the network to send data to a computer system of another user of the network.

The widespread popularity of the World Wide Web (“Web”) has provided additional opportunities for computers to inter-communicate. For example, much current Web use involves users interactively requesting Web pages from Web servers (e.g., via executing Web browser applications of the users) and receiving the requested information in response. In addition to such interactive user specification of requested information, there is also growing use of the Web to support the programmatic interaction of remote applications to exchange information via defined APIs (“application program interfaces”), such as via Web services.

Web services allow heterogeneous applications and computers to interact, and can be defined and implemented using a variety of underlying protocols and techniques. For example, some Web service implementations return data in XML (“eXtensible Markup Language”) format using HTTP (“HyperText Transport Protocol”) in response to a Web service invocation request specified as a URI (“Uniform Resource Identifier”), such as a URL (“Uniform Resource Locator”) that includes a specified operation and one or more query parameters. In other implementations, additional underlying protocols are used for various purposes, such as SOAP (“Simple Object Access Protocol”) for standard message exchange, WSDL (“Web Services Description Language”) for description of service invocations, and UDDI (“Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration service”) for discovery of available services.

Although Web services allow various applications and computers to interact, the current implementations and uses of Web services have various limitations. For example, while some providers of Web services are willing to make their Web services available for free, the most useful and reliable Web services are often not freely available. Unfortunately, the mechanisms for providers of Web services and potential consumers of those Web services to agree upon payment and other terms for transactions can be time-consuming and difficult to use. Moreover, there may often be issues of security and trust that hinders such agreements, such that potential consumers may lack sufficient assurance that prospective Web service providers will reliably and accurately provide desired Web services, while Web service providers may lack assurance that their Web services will be used only by authorized consumers and only in accordance with any conditions specified by the providers. In addition, application developers may be reluctant to have their application programs invoke fee-based Web services if they cannot limit and control the use of such Web services by end-users of the application programs who would be making the calls to those Web services. Finally, easy-to-use mechanisms do not typically exist to allow Web service providers to collect specified payment for the use of their Web services by consumers.

Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a solution that addresses these and other problems associated with the use of Web services and/or that otherwise facilitates the interaction of computer systems and executing applications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1E illustrate examples of defining usage instruction rule sets for use in authorizing programmatic transactions.

FIG. 2 is a network diagram illustrating components and information flow of an example embodiment of a Web services Payment Handling System.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computing system suitable for executing an embodiment of the Payment Handling System.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a User Account Manager routine.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a Transaction Authorization And Handler routine.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a Transaction Validation subroutine.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are a flow diagram of an embodiment of a Perform Payment Handling Transaction subroutine.

FIGS. 8A-8C, 9A-9B, and 10A-10C illustrates examples of types of interactions between parties to transactions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A software facility is described that facilitates interactions between computing systems, such as by in some embodiments providing a third-party transaction authorization system that automatically authorizes transactions between parties and/or financial payments for such transactions in accordance with private authorization instructions that were previously specified by the parties. In some embodiments, some or all of the transactions are programmatic transactions conducted between executing computer programs, such as transactions involving the use of Web services of Web service providers by application programs affiliated with Web service consumers. In addition, in some embodiments the transaction authorization system further provides authorized payments to one or more of the parties on behalf of one or more other parties. The transaction authorization system allows parties to transactions to automatically determine whether the transactions are authorized and to proceed with performance of the transactions if so.

The transaction authorization system can be used to authorize transactions and/or payments for a variety of types of interactions between parties, with FIGS. 8A-8C illustrating examples of some such interactions. In particular, FIG. 8A illustrates an example of a 2-party transaction 830 a in which a party 805 a requests a service to be provided by a party 810 a, with the providing of the service having an associated cost. A transaction authorization system 820 a uses information about the parties 805 a and 810 a (e.g., information received from one of the parties who makes a programmatic call to the transaction authorization system requesting the authorization) in order to determine whether to authorize the transaction and/or the providing of a payment 850 a from the service requester to the service provider to cover the cost associated with the transaction. After the transaction and/or payment is authorized, the transaction authorization system provides an indication of the authorization (e.g., as a response to the authorization request call), and may further in some embodiments actually make the authorized payment on behalf of the service requester. Details regarding how the authorization process 840 a may occur are discussed in greater detail below.

The illustrated authorization and payment techniques can be used in a variety of situations. For example, the provided service may involve a programmatic transaction between the two parties (e.g., invocation by the service requester party of a Web service provided by the service provider party), or instead could involve other types of transactions (e.g., a physical transaction between the parties, such as providing a physical product or service from one party to the other). The authorization interactions with the transaction authorization system can similarly be performed in various ways, such as during the transaction (e.g., such that the transaction will not be completed unless an appropriate authorization response is received), or instead in a manner separate from the transaction (e.g., after the transaction is completed in order to provide payment to the service provider). In addition, the information regarding the parties that is used in performing the authorization may similarly have a variety of forms, as discussed in greater detail below.

FIG. 8B provides an example of a more complex payment 850 b for a transaction 830 b in which a party 805 b requests a service to be provided by a party 810 b. In this example, after the transaction authorizer 820 b authorizes the transaction (not shown), portions of the payment may be provided to both the service provider 810 b and the transaction authorizer 820 b (e.g., based on the transaction authorizer charging a fee for performing the authorizing of the transaction and/or payment), and portions of the payment may be provided by both the service requester and one or more other payment providers 815 b (e.g., an application developer that provided an application program being executed by the service requester). In other situations, payments between the various parties could be provided in other ways, such as if the payment provider(s) provide all of the payment, if the payment provider(s) provide the portion of the payment going to one of the service provider and the transaction authorizer and the service requester provides the portion going to the other of the service provider and the transaction authorizer, etc.

FIG. 8C provides an example of a more complex transaction 830 c having multiple participating parties 860 a-860 n. In this example, some or all of those parties, as well as one or more other payment providers 815 c, may provide information to or otherwise interact with the transaction authorizer 820 c to allow the transaction authorizer to determine whether the transaction and/or any associated financial payment is authorized. After the authorization process 840 c provides approval, payments (not shown) may be made by one or more of the participating parties and/or the payment provider(s) to other of the participating parties and/or the transaction authorizer.

As previously noted, the transaction authorization system can use various information about the parties to a transaction when determining whether to authorize transactions. In particular, users that are potential parties to such transactions may first define usage instruction rule sets of one or more types with the transaction authorization system for later use in authorizing the transactions, such as payment instruction rule sets for use in authorizing fee-based transactions and/or the associated financial payments for such transactions. Each such payment instruction rule set for a party may include one or more specified rules that regulate the conditions under which the payment instruction rule set can authorize a potential transaction for the party and/or its associated financial payment, as discussed in greater detail below.

For example, a potential Web service consumer (e.g., an application developer who would like their application program to be able to invoke Web services under specified circumstances) may specify rules for a payment instruction rule set that limits the financial exposure to the Web service consumer of the transactions that can be authorized by that payment instruction rule set (e.g., via a number of times that the payment instruction rule set can authorize a transaction, a maximum payment amount per transaction that the payment instruction rule set can authorize, a maximum total payment amount that the payment instruction rule set can authorize, an expiration date for the payment instruction rule set, etc.). Similarly, a potential Web service provider may specify rules for a payment instruction rule set that limits the liability to the Web service provider for the transactions that can be authorized by that payment instruction rule set (e.g., limitations on consumers that can purchase access to the Web service, limitations on types of payment that can be used to purchase access to the Web service, limitations on remedies available to consumers that are unhappy with their use of the Web service, etc.). In addition, a potential Web service caller (e.g., an end user of an application program supplied by an application developer that invokes one or more Web services) may specify rules for a payment instruction rule set that limits the liability to the caller for the transactions that can be authorized by that payment instruction rule set (e.g., limitations on types of programmatic transactions that the caller is authorized to initiate and/or on types of payments that can be made to purchase access to a programmatic service, such as payments to providers of the services and/or fees paid to a transaction authorization service and/or other third-party service such as a payment service).

After receiving a specified usage instruction rule set for a user, the transaction authorization system stores the instruction rule set in a manner associated with the user (e.g., associates it with an account of the user with the transaction authorization system), optionally after first approving the instruction rule set (e.g., based on verification that the instruction rule set includes required information, if any, and/or is in the correct form). The transaction authorization system also generates a reference token to refer to the instruction rule set, associates the reference token with the instruction rule set (e.g., by storing an indication of the reference token with the stored instruction rule set), and provides the reference token to the user for later use in referencing the instruction rule set. As discussed in greater detail elsewhere, the reference tokens can be generated in a variety of ways and can take a variety of forms (e.g., a long random number guaranteed to be unique), and in some embodiments multiple reference tokens may be generated for and associated with a single instruction rule set. In some embodiments, the reference tokens are generated in such a manner as to allow anonymous and/or private use of a reference token by a user, such as by lacking any identification information related to the user and/or by lacking any information about the conditions of the instruction rule set associated with the reference token (e.g., to prevent other parties to a potential transaction that involves such a reference token from obtaining such information about the user and/or associated instruction rule set).

After the usage instruction rule sets have been defined and associated reference tokens have been generated, they can then be used to allow automatic authorization of programmatic transactions in accordance with the previously defined conditions of the instruction rule sets. In particular, in some embodiments two or more parties to a potential programmatic transaction (e.g., a Web service provider party, a Web service consumer party, and optionally an end-user caller party) each supply a reference token for use in authorizing the potential transaction, as well as various information about the potential transaction. Those reference tokens and various information about the potential transaction can then be supplied to the transaction authorization system for automatic determination of whether the transaction is authorized (e.g., a dynamic determination, such as in a real-time manner). As discussed in greater detail below, in some embodiments the automatic determination by the transaction authorization system of whether a potential transaction is authorized based on the supplied reference tokens includes retrieving the instruction rule sets associated with those reference tokens and then determining whether the instruction rule sets are compatible.

The information about a potential transaction that is supplied to the transaction authorization system may vary in various embodiments and situations. For example, the information about the transaction may in some situations be limited to merely a transaction amount to be paid by one of the parties to another of the parties, while in other situations a variety of additional details about the transaction may be supplied (e.g., a type of the transaction). Furthermore, in some situations the call to the transaction authorization system can further specify details about what (if any) each of the two or more parties to the potential transaction are to pay, whether to another party and/or as fees to the transaction authorization system.

The determining of whether usage instruction rule sets are compatible can be performed in various ways in various embodiments, such as by determining if each rule in each instruction rule set is satisfied for the current potential transaction. Such rule satisfaction can occur in various ways for different types of rules, such as based on information about the potential transaction (e.g., a type of transaction and/or an associated payment amount for the transaction), information about one or more other parties to the transaction (e.g., whether the parties satisfy specified criteria), information about one or more other instruction rule sets specified for the potential transaction (e.g., whether one or more corresponding rules in the other instruction rule set(s) match or are otherwise compatible with the rule), etc. Conversely, in some situations instruction rule sets may be determined not to be compatible because one or more of them (and their associated reference tokens) are invalid for a current potential transaction based on conditions at the time of the potential transaction, such as if the instruction rule set is not currently available for use (e.g., it has expired or is otherwise not currently available for use, such as based on a total number of allowable uses or total allowable payment amount having been exceeded) and/or if it cannot be used for the potential transaction.

When a potential transaction with one or more associated financial payments is automatically determined to be authorized, the transaction authorization system may in some embodiments further perform or facilitate the payment exchange between the parties as appropriate. For example, in some embodiments a payment providing user may have previously specified one or more payment instruments (e.g., a credit card, bank account, etc.), and if so a financial payment may be obtained from one or more of those payment instruments in an appropriate manner (e.g., from a payment instrument specified by a payment instruction rule set for the payment providing user). Similarly, a payment receiving user may have previously specified one or more payment repositories (e.g., a bank account, debit card, etc.), and if so a financial payment may be provided to one or more of those payment repositories in an appropriate manner (e.g., to a payment repository specified by a payment instruction rule set for the payment receiving user).

After the transaction authorization system authorizes a potential transaction and optionally performs any associated financial payments for the potential transaction, the parties to the transaction can then perform the transaction in an appropriate manner. For example, when the transaction is a fee-based Web service transaction, the Web service consumer can invoke the Web service and the provider of the Web service can provide the associated functionality for the Web service to the consumer.

In some embodiments, additional restrictions may be imposed by the transaction authorization system even after a potential transaction is authorized and/or performed. For example, in some situations recipients of payments may not be allowed to immediately withdraw or receive those payments, such as by limiting access to an account of the transaction authorization system in which the payment has been deposited and/or by delaying deposit of some or all of a received payment into another payment repository for the recipient. Such payment access restrictions may be performed for various reasons and in various ways, including to allow any disputes to be resolved and any refunds to be automatically made (e.g., as a chargeback to the payment recipient for the amount of the refund) during a specified period of time after the transaction is authorized and/or performed. In some embodiments, additional related functionality may further be provided by the transaction authorization system or from a third-party, such as a fee-based underwriting or insurance service that guarantees or provides the funds for any such refunds, thus allowing a payment recipient to have immediate or more rapid access to any received payments.

In some embodiments, users of the transaction authorization system may more generally define other types of usage instruction rule sets for use in situations other than authorizing fee-based transactions, whether instead of or in addition to payment instruction rule sets. For example, such usage instruction rule sets can each include one or more specified rules that regulate the conditions under which the usage instruction rule set can authorize a potential transaction that does not include a fee, such as to determine whether to provide access to restricted information or a restricted service.

In addition, the rules in usage instruction rule sets can be specified and used in various ways in various embodiments, and further can have a variety of forms in various embodiments. For example, in some embodiments a rule may specify a type of information to examine, a type of evaluation to perform with respect to that information, and a test for determining whether the results of the evaluation satisfy the rule. More generally, in other embodiments a rule may reflect any condition or information that can be examined and/or evaluated to determine whether it is satisfied in a specified situation. For example, in some embodiments a rule can be specified using XML format, and the instruction rule sets can further in some embodiments be specified and/or stored as XML documents.

Furthermore, in some embodiments users may select from a variety of predefined types of rules when creating usage instruction rules sets, such as with each predefined type of rule specifying a type of condition related to use of an instruction rule set and with each user selection including specifying one or more parameter values to customize the predefined rule type so as to affect how or when its usage condition is satisfied for the instruction rule set being created. In addition, in some embodiments users may specify various user-specific rules, such as rules that each indicate a user-specified procedure for determining when a rule is satisfied (e.g., by providing executable code for the rule that when invoked provides an indication as to whether the rule is satisfied, or instead by indicating a way to automatically obtain a response indicating whether the rule is satisfied, such as by invoking an accessible user-specified Web service or other function using specified parameter values).

In some embodiments, an evaluation of a rule may further involve obtaining additional information to be used as part of the determination as to whether the rule is satisfied, such as in an automated manner and/or in an interactive manner with respect to one or more users (e.g., by querying the user that created the instruction rule set to confirm an evaluation and/or to provide additional information). Moreover, in some embodiments in which functionality related to security and/or privacy for a usage instruction rule set is provided, one or more of the rules in the instruction rule set may be used to provide that functionality (e.g., by restricting who can access and/or modify the instruction rule set), while in other embodiments such functionality may be provided in other manners (e.g., by controlling access to a user account with which one or more instruction rule sets can be associated).

In addition, payment/usage instruction rule sets and their rules can be created in various ways in various embodiments, such as interactively via a graphical user interface (“GUI”) provided by the transaction authorization system and/or via invocation of one or more Web services provided by the transaction authorization system for that purpose. Such Web services may be implemented in various ways, such as using APIs based on XML over HTTP (e.g., as part of the REpresentational State Transfer, or “REST”, distributed interaction model that focuses on resources) and/or on the use of SOAP and/or other protocols related to Web services. Furthermore, after an instruction rule set has been created and associated with a reference token, the instruction rule set may in some embodiments not be allowed to be modified. Alternatively, in some embodiments such an instruction rule set may be modified, and a new reference token for the modified instruction rule set will be generated for the new instruction rule set (e.g., to replace the prior reference token). Moreover, in some embodiments reference tokens and/or associated instruction rule sets may be dynamically created at the time of intended use (e.g., as part of or just prior to attempting to invoke a programmatic service and/or to sending an authorization request to a third-party authorizer)—as one example, one-time or single-use tokens and/or instruction rule sets may be created and used (e.g., for a specific potential transaction) in some embodiments.

Furthermore, in some embodiments in which fee-based transactions are authorized and financial payments are handled, some or all of the users may further have an account with the transaction authorization system that facilitates such payments, such as an account that can be used by a user as a payment instrument and/or a payment repository. Such accounts and/or other financial instruments/repositories may in some embodiments support micro-payments of very small amounts. In addition, in some embodiments the transaction authorization system may further provide aggregation of financial payments to be provided and/or received (e.g., on a periodic basis, such as a month), such as to minimize fees associated with financial payment transactions and/or to allow minimum payment amounts to be reached. As with other types of accounts, such user accounts may in some embodiments have various conditions and restrictions related to their use, such as a maximum allowed credit balance, as well as various security and access control (e.g., password-based).

In addition, while the transaction authorization system has been described above as providing a variety of functionality and capabilities in various embodiments, in some embodiments some of such functionality and capabilities may instead be split across one or more systems. For example, in some embodiments some or all users may already have user accounts with another system with which the transaction authorization system is affiliated or to which the transaction authorization system otherwise has access, and if so some or all of the account-related functionality may be provided by that other system in conjunction with the transaction authorization system (e.g., the storing of instruction rule sets, the generating of reference tokens, the providing of payment repository/instrument functionality, etc.).

For illustrative purposes, some embodiments of the software facility are described below in which various specific types of capabilities and functionalities are performed by a specific embodiment of a transaction authorization system, and in which users define and use specific types of instruction rules sets in specific ways, such as payment instruction rule sets to authorize various types of fee-based programmatic transactions. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the techniques of the invention can be used in a wide variety of other situations, including with services and items other than Web services and for purposes other than providing financial payment, and that the invention is not limited to the exemplary details provided.

FIG. 2 is a network diagram illustrating components and information flow of an example embodiment of a Web services (“WS”) Payment Handling System (“PHS”) financial transaction authorization system 200. Various users and systems interact with the PHS in the illustrated example to receive payment handling functionality, such as for transactions that occur between the users and/or systems. In the illustrated embodiment, the PHS includes both an Account System 220 and a Web services Transaction System 210, as discussed below.

In particular, in the illustrated embodiment a user (not shown) performing application development uses a computing system 250 to interact 251 with the PHS to enable later payment handling functionality on behalf of the application programs developed by the user. The application developer user's computing system 250 first interacts with the Account System to define a user account 230 for the application developer, such as via an interactive GUI 224 provided by the Account System or instead via one or more Web services APIs 222 provided by the Account System. In the illustrated embodiment, each such user account may include one or more usage instruction rule sets 235 that each specify various rules regarding how and when the usage instruction rule set can be used for payment purposes. In addition, each usage instruction rule set has an associated unique reference token 240 for later referencing of that usage instruction rule set. After the application developer user creates the account with one or more usage instruction rule sets, the user then includes one or more of the reference tokens 257 for the usage instruction rule sets within one or more application programs 255 that they create.

Similarly, one or more users (not shown) that provide Web services to others use a computing system 260 to interact 261 with the Account System via the interactive GUI and/or Web services APIs of the Account System. As with the application developer, each Web services provider user can create an account with one or more usage instruction rule sets with the Account System. The Web services provider user can then associate one or more of their reference tokens 267 for their usage instruction rule sets as part of one or more Web services Provider Transaction Systems 265 with which the Web services provider provides Web services to others (e.g., for a fee).

When one of the application programs 255 is later being executed by an end user (not shown) on an end-user computing system 270, the application program invokes 290 one or more Web services provided by the Web services Provider's Transaction System, such as via a Web services API 269. However, the Web services provider in the illustrated embodiment will provide the requested Web service only if appropriate payment is provided for the application program. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the application program supplies a reference token 257 of the application developer user as part of the Web service invocation. Before providing the requested Web service to the application program, the Web services Provider Transaction System then contacts 295 the PHS Transaction System 210 to obtain appropriate authorization and payment, such as via invocation of a Web services API 212 of the PHS Transaction System. In the illustrated embodiment, the Web services Provider Transaction System provides the reference token 267 for the Web services Provider as well as the reference token 257 from the application program as part of the interaction with the PHS Transaction System, and further provides information about the transaction and associated payment that is to occur. While not illustrated here, in some embodiments the one or more Web services provided by the Web services Provider's Transaction System 265 and the reference token 267 may be part of one or more application programs of the Web services provider, such as application programs provided as part of a Web site (not shown) of the Web services provider.

The PHS Transaction System 210 determines if the payment transaction is approved in the illustrated embodiment by first interacting with the Account System 220 to retrieve information about the usage instruction rule sets 235 corresponding to the reference tokens provided in the call to the Web service API 212, as well as further retrieving other information from the user accounts 230 to which those usage instruction rule sets belong. After obtaining the usage instruction rule sets and other information, the PHS Transaction System 210 then determines whether the rule sets are compatible and otherwise authorize the requested payment to be made, and if so the PHS Transaction System performs the payment (e.g., by charging a payment instrument associated with the application program's reference token 257 and by depositing at least some of that charge in a payment repository associated with the Transaction System 265's reference token 267) and provides confirmation to the Transaction System 265, with the Transaction System 265 subsequently providing the initially requested Web service to the application program. In some embodiments, the PHS may further obtain payment for some or all of the services it provides, such as a portion of the payment for each transaction performed and/or a payment associated with account creation and/or modification.

Although the PHS Transaction System 210 and Account System 220 are illustrated in this embodiment as being separate but cooperating systems, in other embodiments the illustrated functionality can be provided in other ways. For example, in some embodiments a single system may provide both the account creation and maintenance capability as well as the transaction authorization and handling capability, while in other embodiments the Transaction System 210 and Account System 220 may instead be provided by unrelated systems/organizations.

In addition, while only payment-type transactions are illustrated here, in other embodiments a variety of other types of transactions could be performed, whether instead of or in addition to a payment transaction. Moreover, while the illustrated embodiment discusses a per-use fee for using the Web service of the Transaction System 265, in other embodiments a variety of other types of purchase transactions could be performed, such as an ongoing subscription to one or more Web services of the Transaction System 265 for one or more application programs 255. Alternatively, a specified number of uses of the Web service or an unlimited number of uses during a specified period of time may instead be purchased and associated with the reference token 257, such as by the application developer user before distributing the application program 255 to the end users. In such situations, information about the subscription or other multi-use purchase may be stored by the Account System in various ways so that the Transaction System 210 will later be able to determine that a payment transaction is authorized. Additional details regarding automatically authorizing programmatic transactions using usage instruction rule sets are included in related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/894,347, filed concurrently and entitled “Automatic Authorization Of Programmatic Transactions”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIGS. 9A-9B and 10A-10C each illustrate an additional example of performing programmatic transactions that are automatically authorized by a third-party transaction authorization system (referred to as “Subway” for purposes of these examples). In particular, FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate an example of making machine-to-machine micropayments for Web service-based programmatic transactions. In this example, a Web service provider referred to as “MapX” provides a Web service that serves maps by address for a fee of 1 cent per invocation or call. “CellX” is a potential Web service consumer of this Web service as part of a cellphone (or “mobile phone”) service provided to various end-user customers. After CellX signs up for MapX's programmatic mapping service, CellX uses this MapX service to make maps available to its cellphone service customers.

The illustrated series of actions for the example in FIGS. 9A and 9B begins with a representative of MapX (not shown) performing interactive account setup actions 931 with the Subway transaction authorization system 920, and in particular using a Web site 922 provided by the Subway system 920 to specify information about MapX (e.g., credential information and Automated Clearing House (or “ACH”) bank information for MapX). The Subway Web site 922 then interacts with a Subway Web service 924 to create an account for MapX by supplying the received information for MapX and by receiving an ID for the new account in response. A representative of MapX then initiates programmatic interactions 933 with a Subway Web service 924 to create a payment instruction rule set for MapX by supplying MapX's credentials, account ID and the rules 933 a for the payment instruction rule set—such programmatic interactions by the MapX representative may include using a MapX Web service provider application 910 that will later provide the mapping Web service to consumers or, instead, using another program (not shown). The Subway system 920 stores 926 a the payment instruction rule set in storage 926 and returns an associated token to the MapX representative, and the MapX representative includes the token with the MapX Web service provider application 910 for later use in authorizing transactions. After registering the payment instruction rule set, MapX is now able to use the MapX application 910 to offer its mapping Web service to potential consumers of the Web service.

A representative of CellX (not shown) then interacts 935 with the MapX application 910 to sign up for the MapX mapping service (e.g., by using an appropriate Web service of the MapX application 910 to perform the signup activities), and receives MapX's token in response. The CellX representative also performs account setup actions 937 with the Subway system 920 by interacting with the Subway Web site 922 to specify information about CellX, and receives an account ID in response. To obtain the account ID, the Subway Web site 922 interacts with a Subway Web service 924 to create the CellX account by supplying the information received from CellX. The CellX representative then initiates programmatic interactions 939 with a Subway Web service 924 to create a payment instruction rule set for CellX by supplying CellX's credentials, account ID and the rules 939 a for the payment instruction rule set. The Subway system 920 then stores 926 a the payment instruction rule set in storage 926 and returns an associated token to the CellX representative, and the CellX representative includes the token with a CellX application 905 that is available to CellX customers via the cellphone service from CellX. After registering the payment instruction rule set, CellX is now able to offer MapX's mapping Web service to its customers via the CellX application 905.

A customer of the CellX cellphone service then selects 941 functionality in the CellX application 905 that uses MapX's mapping functionality from the MapX application 910, such as by selecting a map-related link that is part of an online directory service of the CellX application 905. The user selection then causes the CellX application 905 to programmatically invoke a MapX Web service from the MapX application 910 in order to request a particular map corresponding to the customer's selection, with the invocation including supplying the CellX reference token previously associated with the CellX application 905. The MapX application 910 then submits to a Subway Web service 924 a pay authorization request that includes information about the transaction, MapX's credential, and the MapX and CellX reference tokens. The Subway system 920 then retrieves 926 b the payment instruction rules sets for the reference tokens and uses them to determine that the transaction is authorized, performs the payment from CellX to MapX for the invocation, and returns a transaction ID to the MapX application 910 indicating the transaction authorization. The MapX application 910 then supplies the requested map to the CellX application 905, which displays the map to the customer. As one example of a possible implementation for the MapX application 910 and the CellX application 905, the CellX application 905 may operate in a manner similar to application program 255 previously described in FIG. 2, and the MapX application 910 may operate in a manner similar to an application program of the WS Provider Transaction System 265 that includes the WS API 269, as previously described in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 10A-10C illustrate another example of using payment instruction rule sets to authorize programmatic transactions, which in this example includes a user (named “Rob”) who provides an application 960 to implement shopping cart functionality for third-party merchants via Web services. Such merchants can sign up for and use Rob's shopping cart functionality by including customer-selectable controls in the merchants' applications that interface with Rob's shopping cart application 960, which in turn maintains session information for each customer of each merchant. When customers check out via a merchant's application, Rob's shopping cart application 960 interacts with the Subway transaction authorization system 970 to process payments from the customers to the merchants.

The illustrated series of actions for the example in FIGS. 10A-10C begins with a representative of a merchant (not shown) performing interactive actions 981 to sign up for Rob's shopping cart service by interacting with Rob's shopping cart application 960, which first redirects the representative to the Subway transaction authorization system 970 to register a payment instruction rule set for the merchant. The merchant representative next interacts with a Web site 972 provided by the Subway system 970 to sign in (in this example the merchant already has an account with the Subway system 970) and to supply payment instruction rule information 981 a to the Subway system 970. The Subway Web site 972 then interacts with a Subway Web service 974 to create a payment instruction rule set by supplying credentials for Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960, an account ID for the merchant, and the rules 981 a for the payment instruction rule set. The Subway system 970 next stores 976 a the payment instruction rule set in storage 976 and returns an associated token to the merchant via Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960. The merchant then includes customer-selectable controls related to shopping cart functionality as part of the merchant's Web site application 955, with the controls associated with appropriate URLs that use the merchant reference token as a parameter while invoking corresponding Web services provided by Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960.

A customer of the merchant then interacts 983 with the merchant's Web site application 955 to select an appropriate control to add an item to the customer's shopping cart, which causes information to be sent from the merchant application 955 to Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960 that includes a session ID for the customer and the reference token for the merchant. When the customer later indicates via the merchant Web site application 955 to proceed to checkout, the merchant application 955 sends information to Rob's shopping cart application 960, which in turn interacts with the Subway Web site 972 in order to dynamically specify a one-time set of payment instruction rules for the customer for the amount corresponding to purchasing the items in the customer's shopping cart. The customer is also prompted to sign in at the Subway Web site 972, including creating an account if need be. The Subway Web site 972 then proceeds to interact with a Subway Web service 974 to create the payment instruction rule set by supplying credentials for Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960, an account ID for the customer, and the rules 983 a for the payment instruction rule set. The Subway system 970 next stores 976 a the payment instruction rule set in storage 976 and returns an associated token for the customer to Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960.

When the customer of the merchant indicates placing an order by selecting a “Confirm Order” control via the merchant Web site application 955, the merchant application 955 sends an indication to Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960 that includes the session ID. Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960 then retrieves the reference token for the customer that was previously created, and submits a pay authorization request to a Subway Web service 974 that includes information about the transaction, the shopping cart Web site credential, and the reference tokens for the merchant and customer. The Subway system 970 next retrieves 976 b the payment instruction rules sets for the reference tokens and uses them to determine that the transaction is authorized, performs the payment from the customer to the merchant for the transaction, and returns a transaction ID to Rob's shopping cart Web site application 960 indicating the transaction authorization.

FIGS. 1A-1B provide examples of interactions by users to create accounts and usage instruction rule sets for later use by a transaction authorization and handling system. In particular, FIG. 1A provides an example of a GUI via which a Web service provider user ABC interactively creates a user account, such as by filling in forms in a Web page provided by an Account System. In this illustrated example, the example interactive creation screen includes a heading area 111 with overview information, followed by an area 113 in which the user can specify various general information for the account, such as an account name, a password for access control to view and modify the account, any optional certifications, and any optional organization affiliations. In this example, user ABC specifies a certification from a third-party company BCD Corporation, as some usage instruction rule sets of potential consumers of the Web services provided by ABC may request such a certification in order to authorize payment to ABC. Similarly, user ABC indicates organization affiliations both to its own company and to an association of various Web service providers, as usage instruction rule sets of potential consumers of ABC's Web services may similarly request one or more such organization affiliations to authorize payment to user ABC.

In this example, the account creation screen also includes an optional section 114 in which the user ABC can specify one or more payment repositories for payments that the user may receive, such as for providing fee-based Web services to consumers. In this example embodiment, user ABC specifies two payment repositories in which incoming payments may be deposited, including a bank account and a debit card. The user further specifies restrictions for the debit card such that any payments deposited must be a minimum of at least five cents. The section 114 in this illustrated embodiment also indicates that the user account being created can itself serve as a payment repository for the user.

The account creation screen also includes a section 115 in which the user ABC can specify one or more payment instruments to be used for payments to be made to others. In this example, user ABC specifies the same bank account as an available payment instrument, although with a restriction that any individual payments from the account be no larger than $50, as well as a credit card payment instrument with restrictions of maximum individual payments of $200 and a maximum cumulative balance of $2,000. Section 115 similarly indicates that the user account being created can be used as a payment instrument by the user, which for this user and in this example includes a $1,000 maximum balance credit limit. After specifying the various types of information, the user can then select the control 116 b to create the account, or the user can instead select the control 116 a to cancel the account creation.

In the illustrated embodiment, after initially creating the user account, the user is then presented with the option of creating one or more usage instruction rule sets via the example screen shown in FIG. 1B. In particular, the illustrated screen includes a header section 117 with overview information and a rule specification section 118 in which various information can be specified for a usage instruction rule set being created. In this example, section 118 allows the user to specify a name for the usage instruction rule set being created, a usage type for the rule set (which in this example is to receive payments), a payment repository to receive any such payments, and an expiration date which in this example is not specified. The user ABC can also specify one or more specific rules for this rule set. The example illustrates two rules that have been defined, and a drop-down menu for a third rule showing other types of rule attributes that can be selected and customized for this usage instruction rule set in this example.

For example, user ABC has specified that this usage instruction rule set will only receive payments from users that satisfy the first “AllowedPayers” role attribute, which in this example can be satisfied based on a specified organization affiliation of the payer, rating of the payer, or specific payer whose ID is indicated. As is indicated, other rule attributes that can be specified in this example include disallowed or blocked payers from whom user ABC will not accept payment, specifications of allowed or disallowed transaction types with which the usage instruction rule set can be used, allowed or disallowed types of payment instruments and currencies for received payments, terms and conditions for later handling any disputes that occur, etc. In addition, the illustrated embodiment allows a user to specify a user-defined rule, such as by including executable code and/or a mechanism for invoking an accessible executable function (e.g., a Web service). After specifying the various information for the usage instruction rule set being created, the user ABC can then select one of the controls in section 109 to create the current usage instruction rule set and continue with creating another rule set for the account, to create the current usage instruction rule set and exit the account modification, or to skip the creation of a current instruction rule set and exit.

The types of rule attributes shown in this example are provided in a simplified manner for the purpose of example, and similar information could instead be specified in other ways in other situations. For example, rather than having different attributes for allowed and disallowed payers, a single attribute for payers could instead be provided, with the type of evaluation criteria instead used to determine whether a user is allowed or disallowed (e.g., to satisfy the rule, it is specified that the payer “IS” or “IS-NOT” a specified value). Additional details regarding example attributes are discussed elsewhere.

FIG. 1C illustrates an alternative technique for creating usage instruction rule sets for a user account. In particular, in this example embodiment, user accounts and usage instruction rule sets are created programmatically by a Web services consumer application developer user CDE, such as via one or more Web services provided by the WS Payment Handler System. In this example embodiment, the information supplied as part of the programmatic invocation includes the example XML document 131 illustrated in FIG. 1C. This example XML document specifies the account ID with which the usage instruction rule set being created will be associated (e.g., an account ID received by the user in response to an earlier programmatic invocation to create the user account), and further provides a variety of information similar to that specified in an interactive manner with respect to FIG. 1B.

In particular, this usage instruction rule set is being created by user CDE for use in providing payment for transactions that will be invoked by one or more application programs created by user CDE, such as fee-based Web services (e.g., one or more Web services provided by Web service provider user ABC). In this example, the usage instruction rule set being created will use user CDE's PHS account (designated in this example with the name “MyPHSAccount”), and has a specified expiration date. The second of the two rules defined for the usage instruction rule set further limits the total payments that this usage instruction rule set can authorize to be less than or equal to the amount of $1,000 by using the predefined rule attribute “PaymentsAllowed” with an appropriate evaluation type and rule value. The first rule specified for the usage instruction rule set identifies a specific payment recipient with which the usage instruction rule set cannot be used, which in this example is specified with a general attribute of “Recipient” and appropriate evaluation type of “IS-NOT” rather than a more specific attribute type of “DisallowedRecipient”. In other embodiments, corresponding information could be instead provided in a variety of other ways, including in XML documents using other formats and/or in ways other than with XML.

FIG. 1C also illustrates a second XML document 133 for creating another usage instruction rule set for user CDE's account, such as to accompany a second programmatic invocation to the WS Payment Handler System. In particular, this second usage instruction rule set illustrates an example of a usage instruction rule set for transactions of a type other than payment handling, such as to specify access control information in this example. For example, user CDE may have a subscription or other membership that provides access to one or more programmatic services or sources of information, but user CDE may wish to limit when such access rights are made available to one or more applications provided by the user. In this example, the usage instruction rule set being created in XML document 133 does not include an associated payment instrument, but does include various access information that includes a user name and password to be supplied to gain access in accordance with the subscription/membership—in other embodiment and situations, a variety of other types of access control information could instead be specified and used.

This usage instruction rule set also illustrates an example of the definition of a user-defined rule, which in this example is given a user-specified name of “Allowed-Use” (e.g., for later use in referencing this user-defined rule independently of any other user-defined rule, not shown), as well as a URI-based invocation specification that when executed as indicated will provide a response indicating whether the rule is satisfied. In this example, the invocation specification includes an indication of a parameter to be filled in with information specific to a particular potential transaction by replacing the parameter “access-provider.name” enclosed in square brackets with the corresponding name from the account for the usage instruction rule set of an access provider to which this usage instruction rule set is being matched for a particular transaction. Such a user-defined rule can make a determination as to whether the rule is satisfied in a specific situation in a variety of ways and using a variety of types of information, including information about the application using the usage instruction rule set and/or the end-user executing the application program. Similarly, user-defined rules can be defined and invoked in a variety of other ways in other embodiments, including by providing executable code (e.g., a script or applet) as part of the creation of the usage instruction rule set with which the user-defined rule will be associated.

FIGS. 1D and 1E illustrate several example databases for use in storing information about user accounts and usage instruction rule sets that have been created. In particular, FIG. 1D illustrates an example Account database 140 that stores various information about user accounts that have been created, with each of the entries 140 a-140 b corresponding to a distinct user account. In this example, each entry includes not only information specified by the user creating the account, but also information that is automatically generated for and associated with the account. For example, entry 140 a corresponds to the user account whose creation was previously discussed with respect to FIG. 1A, with columns 143-146 including information specified by the user in section 113 of FIG. 1A. In addition, when the account was created, the PHS generated a unique account ID for the account, which is stored in column 141. Furthermore, in this example user ABC was already known to the PHS or an associated system before the creation of the PHS account in FIG. 1A, and column 142 includes a user ID for user ABC that was previously associated with the user (e.g., as part of a user account previously created for user ABC, such as with a Web merchant or store).

In addition, as previously discussed with respect to FIG. 1A, in this example embodiment the PHS provides for at least some of the users the ability to use their PHS account as a payment repository and/or payment instrument. Thus, columns 149 and 150 include information corresponding to that aspect of the user's PHS account, including a current balance on the account and a maximum balance allowed for the account (e.g., a maximum balance dynamically determined in a user-specific manner at the time of account creation and optionally adjusted as appropriate based on later experience with the user)—however, since user ABC does not use the PHS account as a payment repository or instrument in this example, the current account balance is zero. While not illustrated here, a variety of other types of information may be associated with an account, such as indications of transactions that have previously been performed for an account, changes that have occurred to the account, indications of other users and associated access controls for those users to access the account, etc. Entry 140 b contains similar corresponding information for the account of user CDE previously discussed with respect to FIG. 1C.

Columns 147 and 148 of the Account database 140 include information about any payment repositories and payment instruments defined for use with a user account. In particular, the information in column 147 for entry 140 a corresponds to the payment repositories specified in section 114 of FIG. 1A, and the payment instrument information in column 148 of entry 140 a similarly corresponds to the payment instruments specified in section 115 of FIG. 1A. In this example, each payment repository and payment instrument is given a unique ID, which are stored in the columns 147 and 148, with additional example databases Payment Repository database 180 and Payment Instrument database 190 to store information about user-specified payment repositories and user-specified payment instruments, respectively. In this example embodiment, the payment repository and instrument databases each contain multiple entries 180 a-180 b and 190 a-190 c, respectively, to correspond to individual payment repositories and instruments.

In addition, the databases 180 and 190 store a variety of information for each repository or instrument, including an automatically generated ID in columns 181 and 191, indications of the account with which the payment repository or instrument is associated in columns 182 and 192, a user-specified name for the repository or instrument in columns 183 and 193, and various information in columns 184-186 and 194-196 regarding how to use the payment repository or instrument for payment deposits or charges, respectively. In other embodiments, a variety of other types of additional information may be provided and used, such as in a manner specific to the type of instrument and/or repository (e.g., using the full name of a user associated with a credit card in order to make a charge, but not using such information for a bank account). In addition, in this illustrated example the user can define one or more restrictions regarding use of a payment repository or instrument, as previously discussed, with such restriction information stored in columns 187-188 and 197-198 in this example.

While user ABC uses a single bank account as both a payment repository and a payment instrument (corresponding to entries 180 a and 190 a, respectively), in this example the bank account is given distinct IDs for each of these uses (as shown in columns 181 and 191 for those entries), although in other embodiments a single ID could instead be used. In addition, while not illustrated here, in other situations a single payment source or destination (e.g., a bank account) could be used with multiple defined payment repositories and/or multiple defined payment instruments, such as to define different restrictions or other conditions with different uses of that payment source or destination. In addition, in this example user CDE has not yet designated any user-specified payment repositories or user-specified payment instruments, instead using the PHS account as a payment instrument (since user CDE does not currently receive any payments, he/she does not currently need a payment repository).

FIG. 1E illustrates a Usage Instruction Rule Set database 160 that stores information about various defined usage instruction rule sets. In particular, entry 160 a corresponds to the usage instruction rule set defined by user ABC in FIG. 1B, and entry 160 b corresponds to the usage instruction rule set defined by XML document 131 in FIG. 1C. In this example, each usage instruction rule set is given a unique ID (as shown in column 161) and is further provided an automatically generated unique reference token for use in later reference to the usage instruction rule set (as shown in column 163). While in this example the reference token is a long random number, in other embodiments a variety of other types of information could be used for a reference token, and in general may include any information that can reference or otherwise indicate a payment instruction rule set. Examples of other types of reference tokens that can be used in some embodiments include a digital certificate or other credential, a public or private key of a key pair (if the PHS has access to the other key, such as by being associated with a user's account) and/or information encrypted using one of those keys (e.g., a copy of the usage instruction rule set associated with the reference token, information about the user to whom the reference token belongs, information about a potential transaction for which the reference token is being used, etc). The database 160 further includes a variety of other specified information for the usage instruction rule set, including the account ID for the account with which the usage instruction rule set is associated (as shown in column 162), a name and use type (as shown in columns 164 and 165), an optional expiration date (as shown in column 167), and an indication of one or more optional payment repositories or instruments for use with the usage instruction rule set (as shown in column 166).

The database 160 also includes an indication of the rules for the usage instruction rule set in column 168, which in this example are illustrated with rule IDs corresponding to those rules. Additional information about the rules is then provided in the Usage Instruction Rule database 170. In particular, each rule in this example has an associated unique rule ID (as shown in column 171) and an indication of the ID of the usage instruction rule set with which the rule is associated (as shown in column 172). Columns 173-177 include various information regarding how to determine whether the rule is satisfied in a particular situation, and a variety of other types of information may similarly be stored in other embodiments and situations for such rules, such as in a manner specific to different types of rules (e.g., by storing invocation details for user-defined rules).

FIG. 3 illustrates a server computing system 300 suitable for executing an embodiment of a Transaction Authorization Handler system facility 340, as well as computing systems 350 and 370 for Web services consumers and providers, respectively. The server computing system includes a CPU 305, various I/O devices 310, storage 320, and memory 330. The I/O devices include a display 311, a network connection 312, a computer-readable media drive 313, and other I/O devices 315.

An embodiment of the Transaction Authorization Handler system is executing in memory, and it includes a Transaction Validater component 341, a Transaction Handler component 343, an Account Manager component 345, an optional Payment Aggregator component 347, and an optional Security Manager component 349. In particular, the Transaction Authorization Handler system receives indications of potential transactions and determines whether to authorize the transactions. Such potential transactions may include transactions between an application program 359 executing in memory 357 of a Web service consumer system 350 and a Web service server 379 executing in memory 377 of a Web service provider system 370, and/or transactions between one or more such systems 350 and 370 and one or more other computing systems 390.

Before performing potential transactions to be authorized, users (e.g., users of the computing systems 350 and 370) interact with the Account Manager component to create user accounts, with information 325 about the user accounts stored on storage 320. Each such user can also interact with the Account Manager to create one or more usage instruction rule sets, with information 327 about each such instruction rule set stored in a manner associated with the account of the user. The Account Manager also creates a reference token for each such usage instruction rule set that is created, with information 328 about the reference token stored in a manner associated with the usage instruction rule set. After the created reference tokens are provided to users such as users of the computing system 350 and 370, those users may store reference tokens 356 and 376 on storage 351 and 371 respectively of the computing systems for later use by the application program 359 and Web service server 379, respectively. While the Account Manager component is part of the Transaction Authorization Handler system in this illustrated embodiment, in other embodiments some or all of the Account Manager component functionality could instead be performed by another system with which the Transaction Authorization Handler system interacts.

When the Transaction Authorization Handler system 340 receives an indication of a potential transaction for an authorization determination and two or more reference tokens for parties to the transaction, the Transaction Validater component retrieves stored information about the usage instruction rule sets that correspond to the reference tokens and determines whether those usage instruction rule sets are satisfied for the potential transaction under the current conditions. If so, the Transaction Handler component then assists in performing or otherwise handling the potential transaction, such as to arrange for financial payment performance between the parties for fee-based transactions.

In some embodiments, the Transaction Authorization Handler system further may include one or both of the optional Payment Aggregator component 347 and an optional Security Manager component 349. When present, the Payment Aggregator component can aggregate payments being made to and/or received from parties as appropriate, such as based on preferences of those parties and/or using other information. The Security Manager component can, when present, perform additional security-related verification of various types, such as to confirm the identity of parties to transactions, to confirm the identity and/or authorization of users supplying reference tokens, to perform user authorization for users attempting to create and/or modify user accounts and usage instruction rule sets, etc.

The functionality of the Transaction Authorization Handler system can be accessed in various ways in different embodiments. For example, some users may have physical access to the server computing system, and if so can interact with the various I/O devices 310 to provide and/or receive information. Alternatively, other users can use client computer systems to directly access the system, such as remotely via network 380 (e.g., via the Internet and/or the World Wide Web). Such users can use software or other functionality provided on the client computer systems, such as a browser (not shown) executing in memory 360, to interact with the Transaction Authorization Handler system. In other embodiments, users may instead receive functionality and/or information from the Transaction Authorization Handler system indirectly via interactions with one or more other computers, which may directly receive that functionality or information from the Transaction Authorization Handler system before providing it to the users. In addition, some or all of the Transaction Authorization Handler system components may provide various feedback or other general types of information to users (e.g., in response to user requests), and this information can be presented to the user on the display 311 of the server system or on one of the I/O devices 354 or 374 on a client system.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computing systems 300, 350 and 370 are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Computing system 300 may be connected to other devices that are not illustrated, including through one or more networks such as the Internet or via the World Wide Web (“Web”). More generally, a “client” or “server” device may comprise any combination of hardware or software that can interact, including computers, network devices, internet appliances, PDAs, wireless phones, cellphones, pagers, electronic organizers, television-based systems and various other consumer products that include inter-communication capabilities. For example, one of the computing systems 350 may be a cellphone, wireless PDA or other portable device, and a user of that phone/PDA/device may make one or more selections that result in using the capabilities of the Transaction Handler system 340, such as to handle transactions with one or more provider computing systems 370. In addition, the functionality provided by the illustrated Transaction Authorization Handler system components may in some embodiments be combined in fewer components or distributed in additional components. Similarly, in some embodiments the functionality of some of the illustrated components may not be provided and/or other additional functionality may be available.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that, while various items are illustrated as being stored in memory or on storage while being used, these items or portions of them can be transferred between memory and other storage devices for purposes of memory management and data integrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of the software modules and/or components may execute in memory on another device and communicate with the illustrated computing device via inter-computer communication. Some or all of the Transaction Authorization Handler system components or data structures may also be stored (e.g., as instructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium, such as a hard disk, a memory, a network, or a portable article to be read by an appropriate drive. The Transaction Authorization Handler system components and data structures can also be transmitted as generated data signals (e.g., as part of a carrier wave) on a variety of computer-readable transmission mediums, including wireless-based and wired/cable-based mediums. Accordingly, the present invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a User Account Manager routine 400. The routine allows users to create and modify accounts for use with a transaction authorization and handler system, including defining usage instruction rule sets for use with the account. In some embodiments, the routine may be implemented as part of an interactive user interface with which a user can interact (e.g., as part of one or more Web pages of a Web site), while in other embodiments the routine may instead be executed in response to one or more programmatic invocations on behalf of users (e.g., as part of one or more Web services accessed on behalf of the users).

The routine begins at step 405, where an instruction related to an account is received. In step 410, the routine determines whether the instruction is related to creating an account, and if so continues to step 415 to receive various information related to the definition of the account. For example, in some embodiments a user may supply an account name, an account password or other security access mechanism, indications of one or more payment instruments for use with the account, indications of one or more payment repositories for use with the account, etc. The routine then continues at step 420 to automatically generate additional information related to use of the account, such as in some embodiments a unique account ID, a determination of a maximum balance allowed for a user if the account can be used as a payment instrument that can include charges, etc. In step 425, the routine then creates the account using the received and generated account information, and in step 430 provides a reference for the new account to the creator of the account (e.g., an indication of the account ID).

If it was instead determined in step 410 that the received instruction was not related to creating an account, the routine continues to step 435 to receive information related to modifying the account, and in step 440 modifies the account as indicated if appropriate. In step 445, the routine then determines whether the account modification included creating or modifying a usage instruction rule set. If so, the routine continues at step 450 to generate a unique reference token associated with the usage instruction rule set to allow later reference to the instruction rule set. At step 455, the routine then provides an indication of the reference token to the account owner for later use in referencing the usage instruction rule set. After steps 430 or 455, or if it was instead determined in step 445 that the account instruction was not related to creating or modifying a usage instruction rule set, the routine continues at step 460 to determine whether to continue making modifications to the current account. If so, the routine returns to step 435, and if not the routine continues to step 499 and ends.

While not illustrated here, in other embodiments additional functionality related to user accounts could be provided, such as to allow a user to review an account by providing information about the account. In addition, in some embodiments additional security controls may be used to ensure that a user seeking to create and/or modify an account is authorized to do so. Furthermore, in some embodiments the user accounts may be associated with a company or other entity distinct from the system providing the transaction authorization and handling capabilities.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a Transaction Authorization And Handler routine 500. The routine receives indications of transactions to be authorized or otherwise handled and of reference tokens corresponding to usage instruction rule sets from multiple parties to the transaction, and determines to authorize the transaction when the usage instruction rule sets are compatible. In some embodiments, the routine is invoked programmatically, such as via one or more Web services, although in other embodiments the routine could instead be invoked in other manners (e.g., interactively via a graphical user interface).

The routine begins in step 505, where an indication is received of a multi-party transaction and of reference tokens for each of multiple of the parties (e.g., one for each of the two or more parties to the transaction). The routine then continues to step 510 to retrieve the usage instruction rule sets corresponding to the tokens, and may in some embodiments further retrieve or otherwise make available other information from the user accounts to which some or all of those usage instruction rule sets belong.

The routine then continues to step 515 to determine whether to perform a security verification to determine whether the parties are allowed to use the tokens, such as based on additional security information provided by the parties. If so, the routine continues at step 520 to attempt to obtain and verify security information showing authorization of the parties to use the tokens, and in step 525 determines whether such authorization was verified. In other embodiments, such security or other access authorization to use such tokens may instead not be performed, such as when the use of the instruction rule sets for the tokens themselves will contain rules or other restrictions that control when the usage instruction rule sets are allowed to be used.

If it was determined in step 525 that the token usage authorization was verified, or if it was instead determined in step 515 not to perform the security verification, the routine continues to execute subroutine 530 to validate the transaction based upon the retrieved usage instruction rule sets, as discussed in greater detail with respect to FIG. 6. If it is determined in step 535 that the transaction is validated, the routine continues to execute subroutine 545 to attempt to perform the indicated transaction (e.g., to make a financial payment for a fee-based transaction), such as in a manner specific to the type of transaction, as discussed in greater detail with respect to FIGS. 7A and 7B. In other embodiments, the routine may instead merely determine whether the transaction is authorized, leaving performance of the transaction for others.

After step 545, if it is determined in step 550 that the indicated transaction performance succeeded, the routine continues to step 555 to return an indication of success, such as in a response XML document if the routine 500 was invoked as part of a Web service. If it was instead determined in step 525 that the token usage authorization was not verified, or in step 535 that the transaction was not validated, or in step 550 that the transaction performance did not succeed, the routine continues instead to step 540 to instead return an error message, such as an XML document sent as a response if the routine was invoked as part of a Web service. After steps 540 or 555, the routine continues to step 599 and ends.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a Transaction Validation subroutine 530. The subroutine receives an indication of a transaction and of two or more usage instruction rule sets specified by parties to the transaction, and determines whether to validate the transaction based on the rules and other information of the usage instruction rule sets.

The subroutine begins at step 605, where an indication is received of a transaction and of two or more usage instruction rule sets. In step 610, each rule that specifies criteria related to transactions with which the usage instruction rule set can be used and/or that specifies information about parties to transactions with which the usage instruction rule set can be used is selected, and information about the transaction and/or those other parties is retrieved in order to determine whether the rules are satisfied. For example, to obtain information about another party to the transaction, information from a user account associated with that other party may be obtained (e.g., the user account with which the usage instruction rule set for the token from that other party is associated), as well as information about the other parties that may be accessible in other manners (e.g., based on the invocation requests for the transaction handling routine, such as from an HTTP header used as part of a Web services invocation). Similarly, information about the transaction may be available based on information received as part of the routine invocation (e.g., as part of a transaction object or a document supplied for the transaction), or instead from an external source.

After step 610, the subroutine continues at step 615 to identify other specified rules that are not user-defined rules and that specify other terms or conditions related to allowable transaction, and determines whether any such specified rules are compatible with rules from other specified usage instruction rules sets and/or the transaction itself. The subroutine then continues at step 620 and invokes any user-defined rules in the manner specified for those rules and obtains responses indicating whether those rules are satisfied. After step 620, the subroutine continues to step 630 to determine whether all of the rules for the specified usage instruction rules sets were satisfied. If so, the subroutine continues to step 640 and returns an indication that the transaction is validated, and if not continues instead to step 635 to return an indication that the transaction is not validated. After steps 635 or 640, the subroutine continues to step 699 and ends.

In other embodiments, the transaction validation could instead be performed in other manners, such as by evaluating the various types of rules in different orders and/or stopping further rule evaluation if any rule is found to not be satisfied. Alternatively, in other embodiments, determination of whether a transaction is validated may be performed in manners other than requiring unanimous satisfaction of all specified rules, such as if usage instruction rule sets themselves specify other types of inter-relationships among the rules of those rule sets and/or based on other predefined criteria (e.g., a minimum threshold for a percentage or subset of specified rules that must be satisfied).

FIGS. 7A and 7B are a flow diagram of an embodiment of a Perform Payment Handling Transaction subroutine 545. This subroutine is an example of one type of handling that may be performed for some types of transactions, in this case being payment handling transactions in which at least one part to the transaction is to provide payment to at least one other party to the transaction.

The subroutine begins in step 705, where an indication is received of a payment transaction (e.g., of a payment amount and possibly of other payment-related terms) and of reference tokens for each of at least one payment provider and at least one payment recipient. In step 710, the subroutine determines for each payment provider a payment instrument to be used and any defined payment restrictions for that payment instrument, such as based on a payment instrument associated with the usage instruction rule set corresponding to the token supplied by that payment provider. Similarly, in step 715 the subroutine determines the payment repository to be used for each payment recipient as well as any defined payment restrictions. In step 720, the subroutine then determines whether the one or more payments indicated by the transaction satisfy any defined payment restrictions for the payment instruments and/or repositories, such as based on minimum or maximum current charges, minimum or maximum cumulative balances, etc.

After step 720, the subroutine continues at step 725 to determine whether the payments satisfy any defined payment restrictions, and if so continues to step 735 to, for each such payment, determine whether to bill the payment instrument for the charge separately or instead to aggregate the payment along with other payments, such as on a periodic basis (e.g., monthly) or until a minimum cumulative charge is reached. If it is determined not to aggregate the charge for a payment, the subroutine continues to step 740 to immediately charge the corresponding payment instrument for the payment, while if it is instead determined in step 735 to aggregate the charges, the subroutine continues to step 745 to store an indication of the charge for later aggregated billing for that payment instrument. While not illustrated, steps 735-745 can be repeated multiple times for each payment in the transaction if multiple payments are to occur.

After steps 740 or 745, the subroutine continues in step 750 to determine whether to deposit each payment directly in the corresponding payment repository or to instead aggregate the payment along with other payments before depositing the aggregate payments. If it is determined not to aggregate the payments, the subroutine continues to step 755 to immediately deposit each such payment into the appropriate payment repository, while if it is instead determined in step 750 to aggregate a payment the subroutine continues instead to step 760 to store an indication of the payment for later aggregated deposit into the appropriate payment repository. While not illustrated here, steps 750-760 can be performed for each payment to be made for a transaction.

After steps 755 or 760, the subroutine continues to step 765 to return an indication that the payment succeeded. If it was instead determined in step 725 that the payments indicated by the transaction did not satisfy one or more defined payment restrictions, the subroutine continues instead to step 730 to return an indication that the payment did not succeed. In some embodiments, the ability to aggregate payments and/or deposits is considered when determining whether any defined payment restrictions are satisfied, such as to allow multiple payments or deposits to satisfy minimum amount restrictions, while in other embodiments each such payment is individually considered. Alternatively, in other embodiments the payment deposit aggregation and/or payment charge aggregation may not be performed. After steps 730 or 765, the subroutine continues to step 799 and ends.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that in some embodiments the functionality provided by the routines discussed above may be provided in alternative ways, such as being split among more routines or consolidated into less routines. Similarly, in some embodiments illustrated routines may provide more or less functionality than is described, such as when other illustrated routines instead lack or include such functionality respectively, or when the amount of functionality that is provided is altered. In addition, while various operations may be illustrated as being performed in a particular manner (e.g., in serial or in parallel) and/or in a particular order, those skilled in the art will appreciate that in other embodiments the operations may be performed in other orders and in other manners. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the data structures discussed above may be structured in different manners, such as by having a single data structure split into multiple data structures or by having multiple data structures consolidated into a single data structure. Similarly, in some embodiments illustrated data structures may store more or less information than is described, such as when other illustrated data structures instead lack or include such information respectively, or when the amount or types of information that is stored is altered.

The following provides illustrative examples of techniques for defining and using usage instruction rule sets and rules for the instruction rule sets, although the invention is not intended to be limited to these details.

An example of limiting a transaction to a particular payment sender or recipient is as follows:

ALLOWED RECIPIENT TOKEN

-   recipientToken==‘token1’;     If the recipient's token exactly matches token1 the transaction will     be allowed. This rule is available to all parties (sender,     recipient, caller). Examples of specifying multiple allowed     recipient tokens include the following: -   RecipientToken in (‘token1’, ‘token2’, ‘token3’); -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   recipientToken==‘token1’ or recipientToken==‘token2’ or     recipientToken ==‘token3’;     BLOCKED SENDER TOKEN -   senderToken !=‘token1’;     The transaction will be disallowed if the sender's token matches     token1. This rule is available to all parties (sender, recipient,     caller). Examples of specifying multiple blocked senders include the     following: -   SenderToken notIn (‘token1’, ‘token2’, ‘token3’); -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   senderToken !=‘token1’ and senderToken !=‘token2’ and senderToken     !=‘token3’;

An example of creating a secret handshake is as follows:

This is an example of the sender and recipient exchanging a secret handshake to agree on some term. If both parties do not have rules like this defined, then the transaction will be disallowed.

SENDER SECRET

-   string SharedSecretSender :=‘rumplestilskin’; -   SharedSecretSender==SharedSecretRecipient;

For the secret handshake rule, if the sender and recipient do not define the same value, the transaction will be disallowed. Any string can be used in place of ‘rumplestilskin’, and any reference name can be used in place of SharedSecretSender and SharedSecretRecipient, as long as it is not a predefined reference.

RECIPIENT SECRET

-   string SharedSecretRecipient :=‘rumplestilskin’; -   SharedSecretSender==SharedSecretRecipient;

For the secret handshake rule, if the sender and recipient do not define the same value, the transaction will be disallowed. Any string can be used in place of ‘rumplestilskin’, and any reference name can be used in place of SharedSecretSender and SharedSecretRecipient, as long as it is not a predefined reference.

An example of creating a limited-use reference token is as follows:

Payment instruction rule sets can limit the number of times a token can be used to make a payment, the total amount that the token is used for, or the expiration date of a token. These rules apply only to the usage of that token, so a sender's payment instruction rule set can only limit the usage of the sender's token. Likewise, the same applies for the caller and recipient. SINGLE USE TOKEN

-   MyTokenUseCount<=1; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   tokenTransactionCount==1;     This rule causes the token to stop working after it has been used     once. It applies only to its own payment instruction rule set, so a     sender's instruction set can only limit the usage.     LIMIT NUMBER OF TIMES USED -   MyTokenUseCount<=5; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   tokenTransactionCount<=5;     This rule causes the token to stop working after it has been used 5     times.     LIMIT TOTAL AMOUNT -   MyTokenUseTotalAmount<=‘USD 50’; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   tokenTransactionAmount<=$50; -   This rule limits the total amount this token is used for to USD 50.     EXPIRATION DATE -   TransactionTimestamp<‘30-Jan-2005’; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   transactionRequestDate<dateTime ‘30-Jan-2005’;     This rule causes the token to stop working on Jan. 30, 2005. From     midnight on this date (00:00 GMT) and onwards, all transactions     using this token are disallowed.     USE ONLY AS RECIPIENT -   MyRole==‘recipient’;

This rule causes the token to disallow payment unless this token is used as the recipient's token.

USE ONLY AS CALLER

-   MyRole==‘caller’;

This rule causes the token to disallow payment unless this token is used as the caller's token.

USE ONLY AS RECIPIENT

-   MyRole==‘sender’;

This rule causes the token to disallow payment unless this token is used as the sender's token.

An example of limiting the amounts of a transaction is as follows:

Transaction amount limit rules are available to all parties.

MAXIMUM TRANSACTION AMOUNT

-   transactionAmount<=‘USD 50’; -   This rule limits the transaction amount to USD 50 or less. If the     transaction is greater than this amount, this rule will disallow the     transaction.     MINIMUM TRANSACTION AMOUNT -   transactionAmount>=‘USD 1’; -   This rule limits the transaction amount to USD 1 or greater. If the     transaction is less than this amount, this rule will disallow the     transaction.     LIMIT TRANSACTION CURRENCY -   getCurrency(transactionAmount)==‘JPY’; -   This rule limits the transaction currency to Japanese Yen. If the     transaction currency is not Japanese Yen, then the transaction will     be disallowed.

An example of a payment provider/sender specifying payment details is as follows:

The sender specifies the payment method, such as whether the payment is being made from a credit card, an ACH bank account, or from an existing account balance.

BALANCE TRANSFER

-   string paymentMethod :=‘balance transfer’;     This rule specifies that funds will be taken from an existing     account balance.     DEFAULT ACH BANK ACCOUNT -   string paymentMethod :=‘ach’;     This rule specifies that a default ACH bank account for the account     will be used. The default ACH account can be specified in various     ways, such as via CrateAccount or SetDefaultFinancialInstrument     messages.     SPECIFIC ACH BANK ACCOUNT -   string paymentMethod :=‘ach’; -   string paymentinstrument :=‘financialInstrumentReference’;     This rule specifies a specific ACH bank account referred to by     financialInstrunmentReference. A financial instrument reference is     returned from the installACHBankAccount message. In this example, a     financial instrument reference is not a bank account number, which     in some embodiments may not be included in payment instruction rule     sets for privacy reasons. The PaymentMethod should be specified to     allow assertions to be made against it in other payment instruction     rule sets.     DEFAULT CREDIT CARD -   string paymentMethod :=‘credit card’;     This rule specifies that the default credit card for the account     will be used. The default credit card can be specified in various     ways, such as via CrateAccount or SetDefaultFinancialInstrument     messages.     SPECIFIC CREDIT CARD -   string paymentMethod :=‘credit card’; -   string paymentInstrument :=‘financialInstrumentReference’;     This rule specifies a specific credit card bank account referred to     by financialInstrumentReference. A payment instrument reference is     returned from the installCreditCard message. In this example, a     financial instrument reference is not a credit card number, which in     some embodiments may not be included in payment instruction rule     sets for privacy reasons. The PaymentMethod should be specified to     allow assertions to be made against it in other payment instruction     rule sets.

An example of a payment recipient specifying dispute resolution policies is as follows:

Dispute Resolution may happen when the sender registers a dispute about a particular transaction. If specified by the recipient's payment instruction rule set, an automatic refund will be issued from the recipient to the sender to resolve the dispute. A dispute is initiated by the sender, and is governed by the dispute resolution policies specified by the recipient. In this example embodiment, ordinary refunds are not disputes and can be requested by the recipient at any time, and will always succeed, regardless of the dispute resolution policies specified by these rules. ‘SENDER WINS’ TIME LIMIT

-   duration SenderWinsTimeLimit :=‘15 days’; -   or, in alternative embodiments, -   senderWinsTimeLimit :=duration ‘P15D’;     This rule specifies that if the sender registers a dispute within 15     days of the transaction, an automatic refund will be issued.     NO AUTOMATIC REFUND -   duration SenderWinsTimeLimit :=‘0 days’; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   senderWinsTimeLimit :=duration ‘P1D’;     This rule specifies that there will be no automatic refund issued if     the sender registers a dispute.     ‘SENDER WINS’ REFUND FRACTION OR PERCENTAGE LIMIT -   number SenderWinsRefundFraction :=50%; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   senderWinsPercentLimit :=50%;     This rule specifies only 50 percent of the transaction amount will     be refunded to resolve a dispute.

An example of a caller/end-user or payment recipient limiting the payment method is as follows:

The caller and/or recipient can place limits on where the funds come from. For example, if the caller is paying for the transaction fees, the caller might wish to make sure that the source of funds is not a ‘credit card’, since credit cards transaction fees are higher than other methods. BALANCE TRANSFERS ONLY

-   paymentMethod==‘balance transfer’;     This rule will disallow the transaction if the payment method is not     a balance transfer.     BALANCE TRANSFERS AND ACH ONLY -   paymentMethod==‘balance transfer’ or paymentMethod==‘ach’;     This rule will disallow the transaction if the payment method is not     a balance transfer or ACH.     NO CREDIT CARDS -   paymentMethod !=‘credit card’;     This rule will disallow the transaction if the payment method is a     credit card.

An example of limiting the fraction of a fee paid is as follows:

Fee percentages are passed into the Pay message by the caller. Any party can use these rules.

LIMIT SENDER'S FRACTION OF THE TOTAL FEE

-   SenderFractionOfFee<=50%; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   senderFeePercent<=50%;     This rule will disallow the transaction if the sender is paying more     than 50% of the total fees paid.     LIMIT RECIPIENT'S FRACTION OF THE TOTAL FEE -   RecipientFractionOfFee<=80%; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   recipientFeePercent<=80%;     This rule will disallow the transaction if the recipient is paying     more than 80% of the total fees paid.     LIMIT CALLER'S FRACTION OF THE TOTAL FEE -   CallerFractionOfFee<=1/3; -   or, in an alternative embodiment, -   callerFeePercent<=1/3;     This rule will disallow the transaction if the recipient is paying     more than ⅓ of the total fees paid.

Examples of context data available for payment instruction rule sets and that can be sent as an XML document as part of a pay request message (e.g., from a caller to the transaction authorizer) are as follows:

Value Parameter Type Description callerCredential string Created and authenticated by a credential service to validate the caller's identity senderToken string Identifies the sender's payment instruction rule set in their account recipientToken string Identifies the recipient's payment instruction rule set in their account callerToken string Identifies the caller's payment instruction rule set in their account senderFractionOfFees number The fraction of the fee amount that will be paid by the sender recipientFractionOfFees number The fraction of the fee amount that will be paid by the recipient callerFractionOfFees number The fraction of the fee amount that will be paid by the caller transactionAmount money The amount of the payment between sender and recipient SenderTxnReference string A description of the transaction that is meaningful to the sender - in some situations this may be optional RecipientTxnReference string A description of the transaction that is meaningful to the recipient - in some situations this may be optional CallerTxnReference string A description of the transaction that is meaningful to the caller - in some situations this may be optional ServiceDescription string Description of the service or product being provided (for which payment is being made) - in some situations this may be optional

Examples of context data available for tokens are as follows:

Value Parameter Type Description tokenTransactionCount number The number of transactions approved by this token, including the current transaction. tokenTransactionAmount money The total amount of all transactions approved by this token, including the current transaction.

An example of using payment instruction rule sets to authorize a payment for a transaction is as follows:

In this example, the transaction includes a caller party requesting a Web service from a recipient party using an application program provided by a sender party. The caller is paying for the fees associated with the requested service that are charged by the transaction authorizer, the sender is paying for the cost of the transaction, and the transaction amount is USD $50.00. The values of the parameters passed in as part of the transaction authorization call to a third-party transaction authorizer are:

-   -   CallerFractionOfFees:=100%     -   SenderFractionOfFees:=0%     -   RecipientFractionOfFees:=0%     -   TransactionAmount:=USD 50.00

Any optional parameters are saved with the transaction, but don't affect the execution of the transaction.

Data Retrieval and Account Verification

The transaction authorizer receives the transaction authorization call from the caller, which includes tokens for the caller, recipient and sender, and retrieves data associated with the tokens. The data retrieved is the following:

-   -   Account Information for each of the parties, as identified by         the corresponding Token:         -   Account ID         -   Status (Active, Closed, Suspended)         -   Balance         -   Available Balance

The transaction authorizer verifies that the accounts for the various parties exist and are all active. If any of the accounts are inactive, then the transaction is disallowed and an error is returned. Otherwise, the transaction authorizer continues to retrieve data associated with the payment instruction rule sets:

-   -   Payment Instruction Rule Sets and Statistics for each of the         parties, by Token:         -   Payment Instruction Rules         -   Usage Total Count: number of transactions allowed by the             token so far         -   Usage Total Amount: sum of transaction amounts (absolute             value) allowed by the token so far     -   The transaction authorizer's own Payment Instruction Rules, for         specifying fees, defaults, and allowed values.

The instruction sets are shown below for each of the token roles, and are then described.

Sender:

-   # limit to $50 per transaction -   TransactionAmount<=‘USD 50’; -   # limit token usage to 10 and $75 total, whichever comes first -   TokenTransactionCount<=10; -   TokenTransactionAmount<=‘USD 75’; -   # token expires on Jun. 1, 2004 -   TransactionDate<=‘2004-Jun-1’; -   # refuse to pay any fees -   SenderFractionOfFees==0%; -   # withdraw funds from the sender's default ACH account -   string PaymentMethod :=‘ach’; -   # dispute resolution: recipient must allow dispute refunds for 10     days or more, at 90more -   SenderWinsTimeLimit>=‘10 days’; -   SenderWinsFractionLimit>=90%     Recipient: -   # token expires on Oct. 1, 2004 -   TransactionDate <=‘2004-Oct-1’; -   # caller must pay all fees -   CallerFractionOfFees==100%; -   # dispute resolution: allow dispute refunds for 10 days or more, at     100% -   duration SenderwinsTimeLimit :=‘10 days’; -   number SenderwinsFractionLimit :=100%;     Caller: -   # fail if the payment method is not ACH or balance transfer -   PaymentMethod in (‘ach’, ‘balance transfer’);     The Transaction Authorizer: -   # fail if the payment method is not ACH, balance transfer, or credit     card PaymentMethod in (‘ach’, ‘balance transfer’, ‘credit card’);

The transaction authorizer merges the retrieved data with the data received in the pay request message in the authorization call, and evaluates the payment instruction rule sets of the various parties.

Evaluate Payment Instruction Rule Sets

The following discusses the evaluation, showing the interaction between the various payment instruction rules. The payment instruction rule sets presented here all agree.

Sender:

-   # limit to $50 per transaction -   TransactionAmount<=‘USD 50’;

The sender is limiting the amount of each transaction to $50. This does not limit the total usage of the token (see next item).

Sender:

-   # limit token usage to 10 uses total -   MyTokenusecount<=10; -   # limit token usage to $75 total -   MyTokenTotalAmount<=‘USD 75’;

The sender is limiting the usage of the token to 10 uses or $75 total, whichever comes first.

Sender:

-   # token expires on Jun. 1, 2004 -   TransactionDate<=‘2004-Jun-1’;     Recipient: -   # token expires on Oct. 1, 2004 -   TransactionDate<=‘2004-Oct-1’;

The sender's token can only be used until Jun. 1, 2004, while the recipient's token can be used until Oct. 1, 2004.

Sender:

-   # refuse to pay any fees -   SenderFractionOfFees==0%;     Recipient: -   # caller must pay all fees -   CallerFractionofFees==100%;

The sender asserts that she will not pay any fees. The recipient has a more stringent requirement, that the caller is paying all fees.

Sender:

-   # withdraw funds from the sender's default ACH account -   PaymentMethod :=‘ach’;     Caller: -   # fail if the payment method is not ACH or balance transfer -   PaymentMethod in (‘ach’, ‘balance transfer’);     The Transaction Authorizer: -   # fail if the payment method is not ACH, balance transfer, or credit     card -   PaymentMethod in (‘ach’, ‘balance transfer’, ‘credit card’);

The sender is setting the payment method to be ACH, which means that funds will be withdrawn from the default ACH bank account associated with the sender's Account with the transaction authorizer. Since the caller is paying 100% of the fees, the caller makes an assertion that the payment method must be either ACH or a balance transfer, to keep her costs down. The transaction authorizer's payment instruction rule set makes sure that the PaymentMethod is set, and restricts its values.

Recipient:

-   # allow dispute refunds for 10 days after the transaction date -   duration SenderWinsTimeLimit :=‘10 days’; -   # allow dispute refunds at 100% -   number SenderWinsFractionLimit :=100%;     Sender: -   # recipient must allow dispute refunds for 10 days or more -   SenderWinsTimeLimit>=‘10 days’; -   # recipient must allow dispute refunds at 90% or more -   SenderWinsRefundFraction>=90%;

The recipient specifies a dispute resolution policy that allows the sender to receive a 100% refund for up to ten days after the transaction date. The sender refuses to pay unless the recipient specifies a dispute resolution policy that she agrees to: 90% or more refunds for at least 10 days after the transaction date. The sender and recipient are in agreement.

Execute Transaction

From the evaluation of the payment instruction rule sets, the following variables are known:

-   -   PaymentMethod: =‘ach’     -   SenderWinsTimeLimit: =10 days     -   SenderWinstFractionLimit: =100%

The transaction authorizer looks up the default ACH financial instrument for the sender to use as the source of funds for the primary transaction. According to the fee schedule, ACH transactions cost $0.60 for the $50 transaction (1.0%+$0.10 per transaction). The transaction authorizer also generates a Transaction ID that will be returned to the caller. Based on all this, the transaction authorizer executes the following:

-   -   withdraws $50.00 from the sender's bank account via ACH     -   deposits $50.00 in the sender's account at the transaction         authorizer     -   performs a balance transfer from the sender's transaction         authorizer account to the recipient's account at the transaction         authorizer for $50.00     -   performs a balance transfer from the caller's account at the         transaction authorizer to the transaction authorizer for $0.60

The references and descriptions, along with the dispute resolution variables, are all stored in the transaction data. Account balances are updated in the course of executing the above transaction.

Pay Response Message

Since the transaction was successful, a Transaction ID is returned to the caller as part of a pay response message.

Parameter Type Description TransactionID String A reference to the transaction that can be supplied back to the transaction authorizer for queries, refunds, disputes and other operations.

In some embodiments, usage instruction rule sets are used to check to see if some event is to be authorized or not, and include a set of rules (also referred to as “assertion expressions” or “assertions”) that are evaluated against context data—if the rules/assertions evaluate to true for a given set of context data, then the event is authorized. An example of a language for defining usage instruction rule sets is as follows:

ASSERTION EXAMPLES

In this example language, assertions are expressions that evaluate to true or false (i.e., are boolean expressions). Assignments can also be used to set the value of a variable. If all of the assertions in an instruction rule set evaluate true, then a transaction is allowed, and if so the values of variables as assigned (if any) may be used to direct the execution of the transaction.

The simplest payment instruction rule set consists of the following text, as it will always evaluate to true:

-   true;

Let's add more assertions with logical operators, some simple expressions and literals. Here's what it looks like now:

-   not false or false and true; -   12.3>=7; -   (‘12/05/2004’>=now)!=(TransactionAmount * 2<=‘USD 4.10’);

The above payment instruction rule sets will always evaluate to true (as long as it's before Dec. 5, 2004).

Expressions in this example language are similar to those in Perl or C with respect to operator precedence. To illustrate, look at the following expression: 5+5*10==55;

The above evaluates to true, because it is equivalent to: (5+(5*10))==100;

More generally, the precedence of operator evaluation is in the following order:

-   -   1) Literals, blackboard dereferences, and expressions in         parentheses ( )     -   2) negate − not!     -   3) times*div /, left to right     -   4) minus− plus +, left to right     -   5) equals==notequals !=lessThan < greaterThan > lessThanOrEquals         <= greaterThanOr Equals >=, in, notIn     -   6) and &&, left to right     -   7) or ∥, left to right

Also like C or Perl, white space is ignored in this example language, so tabs, spaces and newlines are not significant (except within string quotes, where exact formatting is preserved).

ASSIGNMENT EXAMPLES

You can create variables and set their values by making assignment statements. An assignment statement looks like this:

-   type Name :=expression;

The following statement creates a variable, of money type, called MyFavoriteAmount, and sets the value to USD 7.99:

-   money MyFavoriteAmount :=‘USD 7.99’;

Variables do not change value throughout the evaluation of a payment instruction rule set. There can be multiple assignment statements for a variable (even in different payment instruction rule sets), but the values all have to agree, or it will be treated as an assertion failure. Variables are stored in the blackboard, which means that you can dereference them in assertions. Variables assigned in a payment instruction rule set (or another payment instruction rule set evaluated at the same time) can be used in any expression.

CONTEXT BLACKBOARD

Doing expressions with literals is fairly useless, since they always evaluate to the same result. In practice, payment instruction rule sets are evaluated against some set of context data, which in this example language are stored in a memory area called a blackboard. In this example, a blackboard is a simple map of string keys to scalar values. The string keys typically start with a capital letter. The names are case-sensitive. The blackboard provides data that is specific to an event.

To dereference blackboard data in an expression, the reference name is simply included in an expression: TransactionAmount/2>=‘USD 5.00’;

Blackboard dereferences can be used in any expression where a scalar value could go.

Variables stored in the blackboard are either global or private. Private variables can be used only by a specific payment instruction rule set (e.g., a sender, recipient or caller), while global variables can be used in expressions by any of the payment instruction rule sets.

In this example, variables are assigned a single value which does not change. Different variables have different sources for their value. For example, some variables are assigned their value within a payment instruction rule set, some are specified by the transaction authorization system (“TAS”), and some are passed in by a caller in a pay request message.

The chart below indicates variables that are defined for every pay request message, along with the source of each variable's value. In addition, payment instruction rule sets can create their own variables using assignment statements. These variables are global; for example, a variable created by an assignment statement in the sender's payment instruction rule set can be used in an expression in the recipient's instruction. User-specified variable names should start with an identifying sequence of characters specific to the user to avoid colliding with TAS-defined variable names and other user-defined variables. For example, variable names defined by Bob's Surf Shack could all start with ‘BobsSurfShack’.

With a few exceptions, all global variables can either be passed in by a caller in a pay request message, or can be specified in any of the payment instruction rule sets—thus, current sources shown in the chart below are a convention only. Exceptions to this include variables with values specified by TAS, and the fact that at least one token has to be passed into the incoming authorization message, and any other tokens to be used have to be reachable. For example, if the CallerToken is the only token provided in a pay request message, then the corresponding payment instruction rule set could indicate the SenderToken or the RecipientToken or both. If it only indicates the SenderToken, then the sender's payment instruction rule set could indicate the RecipientToken, and vice versa.

GLOBAL VARIABLES Variable Name Source Type Description TransactionTimestamp specified by TAS datetime The date and time of the transaction TransactionID specified by TAS string The ID of the transaction TotalFeeAmount specified by TAS money The total amount of the fee paid to TAS for this transaction. SenderFractionOfFees passed in by caller number The fraction of the TAS fees that the sender will pay. in pay request message Value must be between 0 and 1 RecipientFractionOfFees passed in by caller number The fraction of the TAS fees that the recipient will in pay request message pay, with a value between 0 and 1 CallerFractionOfFees passed in by caller number The fraction of the TAS fees that the caller will pay, in pay request message with a value between 0 and 1 TransactionAmount passed in by caller money The amount of the transaction in pay request message TransactionDescription passed in by caller string A human readable description of what's being purchased. in pay request message Stored with the transaction and used when displaying the transaction for reporting and auditing TransactionData passed in by caller string Data provided by the caller regarding this in pay request message transaction. For example, the caller could store an XML description of the service being sold. This data is stored with the transaction but it is opaque to TAS SenderToken passed in by caller string Token referring to sender's payment instruction rule in pay request message set RecipientToken passed in by caller string Token referring to recipient's payment instruction in pay request message rule set CallerToken passed in by caller string Token referring to caller's payment instruction rule in pay request message set PaymentMethod specified by sender's string Specifies the type of financial instrument used as the payment instruction rule set source of funds, one of: ACH, credit card, account transfer PaymentInstrument specified by sender's string Specifies the reference of the financial instrument payment instruction rule set used as the source of funds SenderWinsTimeLimit specified by recipient's duration Specifies the maximum time after the payment instruction rule set TransactionTimestamp a sender can automatically obtain a refund by registering a dispute. The amount of the refund is limited by SenderWinsRefundFraction SenderWinsRefundFraction specified by recipient's number Specifies for what fraction of the TransactionAmount payment instruction rule set a sender can automatically obtain a refund by registering a dispute. The dispute must be registered within the time specified by SenderWinsTimeLimit. PRIVATE VARIABLES

The private variables listed in the chart below are provided for each payment instruction rule set such that each payment instruction rule set gets its own copy of each of these variables. For example, the data in these references are different for the sender than for the recipient. The recipient can not access the sender's values and vice versa.

Variable Name Source Type Description MyTokenUseCount specified by TAS number The number of transactions approved by this token, optimistically including the current transaction MyTokenUseTotalAmount specified by TAS money The total amount of all transactions approved by this token, optimistically including the current transaction MyFeeAmount specified by TAS money The amount of the fee paid by this payment instruction rule set. For example, for the caller's instruction, this is equal to CallerFractionOfFees times TotalFeeAmount MyRole specified by TAS string The role of the party for which this token is being used in the transaction. One of: sender, recipient, caller MyTokenID specified in payment instruction string a user-meaningful ID for the payment instruction rule rule set or passed in to install set payment instruction rule set message MyTokenDescription specified in payment instruction string a user-meaningful human-readable description of the rule set or passed in to install payment instruction rule set payment instruction rule set message MyTokenData specified in payment instruction string user-meaningful machine-readable data related to the rule set or passed in to install payment instruction rule set payment instruction rule set message MyTransactionID sender, recipient and caller string An ID for the transaction that is meaningful only to values each passed in by caller the sender, recipient or caller. Stored with the in pay request message transaction MyTransactionDescription sender, recipient and caller string A human readable description of what's being values each passed in by caller purchased that is meaningful only to the sender, in pay request message recipient or caller. Stored with the transaction. MyTransactionData sender, recipient and caller string Data provided by the caller regarding this transaction values each passed in by caller that is meaningful only to the sender, recipient or in pay request message caller. For example, the recipient could store an XML description of the service being sold. This data is stored with the transaction but it is opaque to TAS COMMENTS

Comments start with the pound sign (#) and cause the rest of the line to be ignored. For multi-line comments, put a # at the start of each line.

-   # this is a comment that -   # spans more than one line     LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS

While in some embodiments the language may include temporal aspects such as looping constructs and/or recursion, in this example there are no such temporal aspects or branching statements. Data types include boolean, number, string, datetime, duration, and money. Operators are as follows:

== equals: true if the left and right sides are equal != notEquals: true if the left and right sides are not equal < lessThan > greaterThan < lessThanOrEquals >= greaterThanOrEquals <= lessThanOrEquals := assignment: assigns the left hand side to the value of the right hand side + addition − unary negate or subtraction * multiply / divide && and ∥ or ! not Literals

Boolean

-   true -   false

Number

-   123 -   0.234 -   5%

Any integer is allowed, up to 2³¹−1. Negative values are achieved via the ‘negate’ operation. Decimal numbers are also supported, and are not stored as floating-point numbers. Numbers start with a digit, so a leading zero is used for decimal numbers between zero and one. Expressing a number as a percentage is also supported.

String

-   ‘any text’

String literals are enclosed in single quotes. Double quotes are not currently used.

Datetime

-   now -   ‘YYYY-MON-DD’ -   ‘YYYY-MON-DD HH:MM:SS AM’

The ‘now’ literal returns the current time. The quoted text that follows this pattern can be compared with. The datetime keyword works with quoted strings, not string expressions.

Duration

-   ‘10 days’

The duration literal specifies a period of time, and can be added to dates to form new dates. A variety of math operations are available.

-   ‘1 year 2 months 3 days 10 hours 30 minutes’ -   ‘P1Y2M3DT10H30M’

The above 2 literals styles are both supported. The second one translates to 1 year, 2 months, 3 days, 10 hours, and 30 minutes. The second form of the duration literal follows the definition of the duration from the W3C XML Schema Specification. From http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/#duration:

The lexical representation for duration is the [ISO 8601] extended format PnYn MnDTnH nMnS, where nY represents the number of years, nM the number of months, nD the number of days, ‘T’ is the date/time separator, nH the number of hours, nM the number of minutes and nS the number of seconds.

Money

-   ‘USD 1.00’ -   money(‘USD’, TokenTransactionCount * 0.05)

Money literals can be specified by a currency code and a number literal, or a currency code and an expression returning a number. See http://www.bsi-global.com/iso4217currency for more information on currency codes, including a table listing all currency codes. The set of allowable currency codes is not limited to those specified by ISO 4217, but ISO 4217 currency codes will be recognized.

Operations and Built-in Functions

In the following section, lhs and rhs stand for the left-hand-side operand and the right-hand-side operand, respectively.

Negateoperation

-   − rhs -   negate rhs

allowed types: integer, double, duration, money

Notoperation

-   ! rhs -   not rhs

allowed types: boolean

Oroperation

-   lhs or rhs -   lhs ∥ rhs

allowed types: boolean

Andoperation

-   lhs and rhs -   lhs && rhs

allowed types: boolean

Inoperation

-   lhs in (rhs1, rhs2, rhs3 . . . )

allowed types: all types

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared. The in operator is shorthand for, and exactly equivalent to, the following:

-   lhs==rhs1 or lhs==rhs2 or lhs==rhs3 . . .

Notinoperation

-   lhs notIn (rhs1, rhs2, rhs3 . . . )

allowed types: all types

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared. The notIn operator is shorthand for, and exactly equivalent to, the following:

-   lhs !=rhs1 and lhs !=rhs2 and lhs !=rsh3 . . . .

Equalsoperation

-   lhs equals rhs -   lhs==rhs

allowed types: all types

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared.

Notequalsoperation

-   lhs notEquals rhs -   lhs !=rhs

allowed types: all types

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared.

Lessthanoperation

-   lhs lessThan rhs -   lhs<rhs

allowed types: integer, double, money, datetime, duration

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared.

Greaterthanoperation

-   lhs greaterThan rhs -   lhs>rhs

allowed types: integer, double, money, datetime, duration

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared.

Lessthanequalsoperation

-   lhs lessThanOrEquals rhs -   lhs>=rhs

allowed types: integer, double, money, datetime, duration

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared.

Greaterthanorequalsoperation

-   lhs greaterThanOrEquals rhs -   lhs>=rhs

allowed types: integer, double, money, datetime, duration

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared.

Addoperation

-   lhs plus rhs -   lhs+rhs

allowed types: integer, double, money, datetime, duration

Integer and double can be operated on, which will result in a double unless both operands are integers.

Operations on money require that both lhs and rhs be the money type.

A duration can be added to a duration, resulting in a duration.

A datetime can be added to a duration or a duration can be added to a datetime, resulting in a datetime.

Suboperation

-   lhs minus rhs -   lhs−rhs

allowed types: integer, double, money, datetime, duration

Integer and double can be operated on, which will result in a double unless both operands are integers.

Operations on money require that both lhs and rhs be the money type.

A duration can be subtracted from a duration, resulting in a duration.

A duration can be subtracted from a datetime, a datetime must be the lhs and a duration must be the rhs, resulting in a datetime.

Multoperation

-   lhs times rhs -   lhs * rhs

allowed types: integer, double, money, duration

Integer and double can be operated on, which will result in a double unless both operands are integers.

For money, money can be multiplied by an integer or double, resulting in money.

For duration, a duration can be multiplied by an integer, resulting in a duration.

Divoperation

-   lhs div rhs -   lhs/rhs

allowed types: integer, double, money

Integer and double can be operated on, which will result in a double unless both operands are integers.

For money, money can be divided by an integer or double, the lhs must be a money value and the rhs must be an integer or double, resulting in money.

Minfunction

-   min(lhs, rhs)

allowed types: integer, double, money, datetime, duration

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared.

Maxfunction

-   max(lhs, rhs)

allowed types: integer, double, money, datetime, duration

lhs and rhs should be the same type, except that integer and double types can be compared.

Modfunction

-   mod(lhs, rhs)

allowed types: integer

Results in the integer remainder of dividing lhs and rhs.

Catfunction

-   cat(lhs, rhs)

allowed types: string

Results in the combined string of lhs and rhs.

Getcurrencycode

-   getCurrencyCode(rhs)

allowed types: money

Returns the currency code as a string.

Parse grammar

Tokens:   OR = “||”;   AND = “&&”;   NOT = “!”;   EQUALS = “==”;   NOT_EQUALS = “!=”;   L_THAN = “<”;   G_THAN = “>”;   LT_EQ = “<=”;   GT_EQ = “>=”;   PLUS = “+”;   MINUS = “−”;   ASTERIK = “*”;   DIV = “/”;   ASSIGN = “:=”;   ASSERTION; ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Parser Rules instructionSet   : ( statement )+   ; statement   : ( “duration”     | “money”     | “datetime”     | “string”     | “number”     )?     BB_REFERENCE ASSIGN     expression STATEMENT_END   | exp:expression STATEMENT_END   ; // expressions expression   : andExp ( ( OR | “or” ) andExp )*   ; andExp    : compareExp ( ( AND |“and” ) compareExp )*    ; compareExp   : addExp     ( ( EQUALS | “equals”       | NOT_EQUALS | “notEquals”       | L_THAN | “lessThan”       | G_THAN | “greaterThan”       | LT_EQ | “lessThanOrEquals”       | GT_EQ | “greaterThanOrEquals”       ) addExp     | ( “in” | “notIn” )      LPAREN expression ( COMMA expression )* RPAREN     )   ; addExp   : multExp     ( ( PLUS | “plus”       | MINUS | “minus”       ) multExp )*   ; multExp   : unaryExp     ( ( ASTERIK | “times”       | DIV | “div”       ) unaryExp )*   ; unaryExp   : ( MINUS | “negate”     | NOT | “not”     ) scalarExp   | scalarExp   ; scalarExp   : literal   | function   | BB_REFERENCE   | LPAREN expression RPAREN   ; // functions  function   : minFunction   | maxFunction   | catFunction   | getCurrencyCodeFunction   ; minFunction   : “min” LPAREN expression ( COMMA expression )+ RPAREN   ; maxFunction   : “max” LPAREN expression ( COMMA expression )+ RPAREN   ; catFunction   : “cat” LPAREN expression ( COMMA expression )+ RPAREN   ; getCurrencyCodeFunction   : “getCurrencyCode” LPAREN expression RPAREN   ; // literals literal   : booleanLiteral   | numberLiteral   | dateTimeLiteral   | durationLiteral   | stringLiteral   | moneyLiteral   ; booleanLiteral   : “true”   | “false”   ; moneyLiteral   : “money” LPAREN QUOTED_LITERAL COMMA expression   RPAREN   ; numberLiteral   : NUMBER_LITERAL ( PERCENT )?    ; dateTimeLiteral   : “dateTime” LPAREN expression RPAREN   | “now”   ; durationLiteral   : “duration” LPAREN expression RPAREN   ; stringLiteral   : QUOTED_LITERAL   ; Lexical Definitions

// character classifications DOT : ‘.’; LPAREN : ‘(’; RPAREN : ‘)’; COMMA : ‘,’; STATEMENT_END : ‘;’; PERCENT : ‘%’; protected QUOTE_CHAR : ‘\‘’; protected DIGIT_CHAR : ( ‘0’..‘9’ ); protected ALPHA_CHAR : ( ‘a’..‘z’ | ‘A’..‘Z’ ); protected NAME_CHAR : ( ALPHA_CHAR | DIGIT_CHAR | ‘_’ ); protected OPERATOR_CHAR   : ( ‘|’ | ‘&’ | ‘!’ | ‘<’ | ‘>’ | ‘=’ | ‘+’ | ‘_’ | ‘*’ | ‘/’ | ‘:’ )   ; // skip all whitespace WHITESPACE   : ( ‘ ’     | ‘\t’     | ‘\n’     | ‘\r’     )+    ; // token classifications BB_REFERENCE    : ALPHA_CHAR ( NAME_CHAR )*    ; NUMBER_LITERAL   : ( DIGIT_CHAR )+ ( ‘.’ ( DIGIT_CHAR )+ )?   ; QUOTED_LITERAL   : QUOTE_CHAR     ( ~( ‘\n’ | ‘\‘’ )     | ‘\n’     )*     QUOTE_CHAR   ; OPERATOR   : OPERATOR_CHAR ( OPERATOR_CHAR )?   ; COMMENT   : ‘#’ ~( ‘\n’ | ‘\r’ )     ( ‘\n’     | ‘\r’ )+   ;

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims and the elements recited therein. In addition, while certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of the invention in any available claim form. For example, while only some aspects of the invention may currently be recited as being embodied in a computer-readable medium, other aspects may likewise be so embodied. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for automatically authorizing transactions based on predefined instructions, the method comprising: receiving a request related to a potential transaction between a first party and a second party that includes at least one first term specified by the second party and at least one second term specified by the first party; obtaining a first reference token of the first party, the first reference token being associated with a first predefined usage instruction rule set of the first party; obtaining a second reference token of the second party, the second reference token being associated with a second predefined usage instruction rule set of the second party; and under control of one or more configured computing systems, automatically authorizing the potential transaction based at least in part on determining that the first and second usage instruction rule sets are compatible, such that each of the at least one first terms are automatically accepted on behalf of the first party and such that each of the at least one second terms are automatically accepted on behalf of the second party; and facilitating performance of the potential transaction.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the potential transaction includes the second party providing at least one of a service and of a product to the first party, and wherein the at least one first terms and the at least one second terms are part of one or more transaction terms associated with the potential transaction that relate to one or more aspects of the providing of the at least one of the service and the product.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein access to the at least one of the service and the product is restricted, and wherein the one or more associated transaction terms include terms to which the first party must agree in order to gain access to the at least one of the service and the product.
 4. The method of claim 2 wherein the at least one of the service and the product includes a service that provides access to information having restricted access, and wherein the one or more associated transaction terms include terms to which the first party must agree in order to gain access to the information.
 5. The method of claim 2 wherein the one or more associated transaction terms relate to procedures for dispute resolution for any disputes that later arise regarding the potential transaction.
 6. The method of claim 2 wherein the potential transaction does not include any financial payments, and wherein the one or more associated transaction terms do not relate to any of financial payments, information about parties to the potential transaction, and a type of the potential transaction.
 7. The method of claim 2 wherein the one or more associated transaction terms include contractual terms and conditions.
 8. The method of claim 2 wherein the providing of the at least one of the service and the product by the second party to the first party is in exchange for an associated financial payment from the first party to the second party, and wherein at least one of the first and second predefined usage instruction rule sets include one or more rules for use in determining whether the first and second parties agree to a proposed manner of making the associated financial payment.
 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising obtaining the associated financial payment from the first party and providing the associated financial payment to the second party.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the potential transaction includes multiple associated financial payments that are each by one of the first party, the second party, a third party related to the potential transaction, and a transaction authorizer system for the potential transaction, and are each to a distinct one or more of the first party, the second party, the third party and the transaction authorizer system.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the at least one first terms and the at least one second terms relate to authorizing an event.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one first terms and the at least one second terms are part of one or more transaction terms associated with the potential transaction, wherein the potential transaction is to reach agreement on the one or more associated transaction terms, and wherein the facilitating of the performance of the potential transaction includes recording accepting of each of the one or more associated transaction terms for the potential transaction on behalf of at least one of the first and second parties based on the automatic authorizing.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second usage instruction rule sets each includes multiple rules regulating at least one of whether to provide to another party access to information as part of the potential transaction and of whether to receive from another party access to information as part of the potential transaction.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first predefined usage instruction rule set of the first party includes one or more rules for use in determining whether to authorize transactions on behalf of the first party, wherein the second predefined usage instruction rule set of the second party includes one or more rules for use in determining whether to authorize transactions on behalf of the second party, and wherein the automatic authorizing includes determining that the rules included in each of the first and second usage instruction rule sets are satisfied for the potential transaction.
 15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first predefined usage instruction rule set of the first party includes one or more rules for use in determining whether to authorize transactions on behalf of the first party, wherein the second predefined usage instruction rule set of the second party includes one or more rules for use in determining whether to authorize transactions on behalf of the second party, and wherein the automatic authorizing includes at least one of interactively querying the first party to obtain confirmation of an automated evaluation of at least one of the rules included in the first usage instruction rule set and of interactively querying the second party to obtain confirmation of an automated evaluation of at least one of the rules included in the second usage instruction rule set.
 16. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configured computing systems are operated under control of the second party, and wherein the automatic authorizing includes sending an indication to a third-party transaction authorizer for an authorization determination by the transaction authorizer based at least in part on the first usage instruction rule set that the first party agrees to the at least one first terms.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein the obtaining of the second reference token includes, after the receiving of the request related to the potential transaction, interacting with the transaction authorizer to indicate the second predefined usage instruction rule set, the second predefined usage instruction rule set being indicated by the second party to authorize the potential transaction with the first party on behalf of the second party.
 18. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configured computing systems are operated under control of the first party, and wherein the automatic authorizing includes sending an indication to a third-party transaction authorizer for an authorization determination by the transaction authorizer based at least in part on the second usage instruction rule set that the second party agrees to the at least one second terms.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein the obtaining of the first reference token includes, after the receiving of the request related to the potential transaction, interacting with the transaction authorizer to indicate the first predefined usage instruction rule set, the first predefined usage instruction rule set being indicated by the first party to authorize the potential transaction with the second party on behalf of the first party.
 20. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configured computing systems are operated under control of a third-party transaction authorizer system that has access to the first and second usage instruction rule sets based on the first and second reference tokens, wherein at least one of the obtaining of the first reference token of the first party and of the obtaining of the second reference token of the second party includes receiving one or more communications from at least one of the first and second parties, and wherein the facilitating of the performance of the potential transaction includes providing an indication that the potential transaction is determined to be authorized.
 21. The method of claim 20 wherein the receiving of the request is further performed under control of the one or more configured computing systems operated under the control of the third-party transaction authorizer system, and wherein at least one of the first predefined usage instruction rule set and of the second predefined usage instruction rule set are specified by at least one of the first and second parties after the receiving of the request.
 22. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatic authorizing is based at least in part on an automated determination by a third-party transaction authorizer system, and wherein the method further comprises, before the receiving of the request, interacting with the transaction authorizer system to define at least one of the first usage instruction rule set and the second usage instruction rule set and receiving at least one of the first reference token and the second reference token from the transaction authorizer system in response.
 23. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second usage instruction rule sets each include one or more rules regulating types of transactions that the usage instruction rule set is enabled to authorize, regulating post-transaction modification conditions that the usage instruction rule set is enabled to authorize, regulating types of payment to be received or provided that the usage instruction rule set is enabled to authorize, and regulating types of parties with whom the usage instruction rule set is enabled to authorize transactions.
 24. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first party and the second party has multiple distinct usage instruction rule sets that have multiple distinct associated reference tokens, and wherein at least one of the first and second reference tokens are selected by at least one of the first and second parties for use with the potential transaction from multiple available reference tokens.
 25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure a computing system to automatically authorize transactions based on predefined instructions, by performing a method comprising: receiving an indication of a transaction between distinct first and second parties that includes the second party providing to the first party access to restricted information; receiving indications of at least one of a first reference for the first party and of a second reference for the second party, the indicated at least one references being for use in determining whether to authorize the transaction and each having an associated usage instruction rule set; obtaining an indication from a transaction authorization system distinct from the first and second parties to authorize the transaction based on the associated usage instruction rule set for each of the indicated at least one references being automatically determined to be satisfied; and providing an indication that the transaction is determined to be authorized, so as to facilitate the transaction.
 26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the transaction has one or more associated terms that include at least one of one or more first terms for agreement to by the first party and one or more second terms for agreement to by the second party, and wherein the indication from the transaction authorization system to authorize the transaction is based at least in part on an automated determination by the transaction authorization system that each of the one or more associated terms for the transaction is automatically accepted on behalf of at least one of the first and second parties, the automated determination by the transaction authorization system being based on the associated usage instruction rule set for each of one or more of the indicated at least one references.
 27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the received indications of the at least one references include indications of at least the first reference and of the second reference, the first reference being associated with a first usage instruction rule set and the second reference being associated with a distinct second usage instruction rule set, and wherein the automated determination by the transaction authorization system includes determining that the first and second usage instruction rule sets are each satisfied for the transaction.
 28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the method is performed by the first party, wherein the providing of indication that the transaction is determined to be authorized includes obtaining the provided access to the restricted information from the second party, and wherein the method further comprises providing an associated financial payment for the transaction.
 29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the method is performed by the second party, and wherein the providing of indication that the transaction is determined to be authorized includes providing the access to the restricted information to the first party.
 30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the method is performed by the transaction authorization system, and wherein the providing of the indication that the transaction is determined to be authorized includes providing the indication to at least one of the first and second parties.
 31. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein at least one of the first and second references is a reference token that is dynamically generated for use with the transaction and whose associated usage instruction rule set is based at least in part on instructions specified for the transaction.
 32. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the computing system, and wherein the contents are at least one of instructions that when executed cause the computing system to perform the method and one or more data structures for use in automatically authorizing transactions between parties, the one or more data structures comprising one or more entries that each corresponds to a usage instruction rule set associated with a party and contains an indication of a unique associated reference token and of indications of multiple rules for the usage instruction rule set.
 33. A computing device configured to automatically authorize transactions based on predefined instructions, comprising: one or more processors; a transaction requester component that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and after receiving one or more indications of a transaction between first and second parties and of a first reference of the first party and a second reference of the second party for use in determining whether to authorize the transaction, automatically obtain a determination as to whether first and second usage instruction rule sets associated with the first and second references are satisfied so as to authorize the transaction, the transaction including the second party providing functionality to the first party in a specified manner without any associated financial payments; and a transaction performer component that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and after the first and second usage instruction rule sets are determined to be satisfied, initiate performance of at least a portion of the transaction.
 34. The computing device of claim 33 wherein the transaction has one or more associated terms that include at least one of one or more first terms for agreement to by the first party and one or more second terms for agreement to by the second party, and wherein the automatic obtaining of the determination as to whether the first and second usage instruction rule sets are satisfied so as to authorize the transaction includes automatically determining that each of the one or more associated terms for the transaction is automatically accepted on behalf of at least one of the first and second parties based on the first and second usage instruction rule sets.
 35. The computing device of claim 33 wherein the transaction requester component and the transaction performer component each include software instructions for execution by the one or more processors of the computing device.
 36. The computing device of claim 33 wherein the transaction requester component consists of a means for, after receiving one or more indications of a transaction between first and second parties and of a first reference of the first party and a second reference of the second party for use in determining whether to authorize the transaction, automatically obtaining a determination as to whether first and second usage instruction rule sets associated with the first and second references are satisfied so as to authorize the transaction, the transaction including the second party providing functionality to the first party in a specified manner without any associated financial payments, and wherein the transaction performer component consists of a means for, after the first and second usage instruction rule sets are determined to be satisfied, initiating performance of at least the portion of the transaction. 